We lead the fight against cyber crime and terror – Brexit won’t change that
After five terrorist attacks in the UK last year and cyber crime mushrooming in the dark web, we cannot - and will not - let up on our joint crime- and terror-fighting efforts with European and other global partners
AS Home Secretary there is nothing more important to me than protecting the UK and keeping our citizens safe.
Last year we witnessed five terrorist attacks that killed 36 people and injured many more. And we are facing an ever-growing threat from organised crime groups who operate across borders and cause misery through people trafficking, drug smuggling and money laundering.
The online space is also rife with criminals looking to exploit vulnerable people and evil terrorists seeking to spread their hatred.
Britain — as a member of the EU — is part of a crime-fighting network that has worked in unison for decades to counter this threat and bring to justice those who seek to do us harm.
We also work side-by-side with close allies outside Europe, such as the US, to bring down criminals and terrorists. Earlier this week, I travelled to California to meet my American counterpart and see the work tech companies are doing to remove online terrorist content.
Leaving the EU means the current basis for co-operation with our European allies on crime fighting and law enforcement will end in its existing form.
But I want to make it crystal clear that Britain is unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe’s security. European security is the United Kingdom’s security.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister addressed representatives of more than 70 countries at the world’s largest security conference in Munich.
She told allies from inside and outside Europe our enemies would like nothing more than to see us fractured. But she stated loudly and clearly that Britain will not let that happen.
The UK will remain a key global player in the fight against crime and terror — and we will not let Brexit hamper this.
After we leave the EU, we will need a new deep and special partnership with our European allies that retains the cooperation we have and goes further to tackle head on the evolving threats that we all face.
That is why we are proposing a bold new security partnership — including an internal security treaty — that can keep our people safe, now and in the years ahead.
Over the decades, Britain has been at the forefront of developing a wide range of measures with our EU partners to bolster security across the continent.
And time and time again, this co-operation has brought criminals and terrorists to their knees.
Through the European Arrest Warrant, we have made it quicker and easier to transfer those accused or convicted of serious crimes between the UK and EU.
For example, when Zakaria Chadili — a man believed to have been radicalised in Syria and wanted for terrorist offences in France — was found living in the UK he was swiftly extradited and brought to justice.
He is one of 10,000 people the UK has extradited through the EAW. Britain and the EU also exchange data as part of crime-fighting efforts. Through the Schengen Information System II, real-time information is shared on wanted criminals, missing persons and terror suspects. Last year alone, there were 13,000 hits across Europe on alerts issued by British law enforcement authorities.
The system links to the UK border, meaning we can arrest wanted individuals as they enter the UK and extradite them.
It also helps us protect vulnerable people by enabling UK law enforcement to create missing persons alerts that go to law enforcement agencies across the EU.
We share expertise and information as part of crime-fighting agencies such as Europol, to which the UK is one of the biggest contributors of data, intelligence and expertise in the EU.
The UK has also been a key driver of creating the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce, bringing together specialists from across the world, and was the first EU country to have a fully-functioning Passenger Name Record Information Unit.
The sharing of passenger details will shortly be implemented Europe-wide enabling the identification and tracking of criminals, victims of trafficking and those individuals vulnerable to radicalisation.
People across Europe are safer because of this co-operation and the unique arrangements we have developed between the UK and EU institutions in recent years. The threats we face do not recognise our borders and it is for the above crucial reasons that the UK Government has proposed a new treaty to maintain our future internal security relationship.
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As well as seeking to build on existing operational capabilities, this ambitious treaty must also respect that any decisions around individuals in the UK will be overseen by the UK courts, recognise the importance of freely sharing data with our European partners, subject of course to appropriate data protection arrangements, and be both pragmatic and dynamic.
What Britain is proposing is totally achievable and nothing — including politics — must get in the way of helping each other to keep our people safe.