Dear Theresa,
I am very concerned about reports over the last few days that the Government may consider opting out of EU police and justice measures, including the European Arrest Warrant. I am pleased to note that you have come out strongly in opposition to these reports in today's newspapers.
The Labour Party strongly believes we need to retain the European Arrest Warrant to protect our borders and keep the public safe.
Like me, you will have heard from senior police officers about how important the European Arrest Warrant is in enabling them to deport foreign criminals without going through a lengthy extradition process. Removing it would make it easier for criminals to come to our country to evade justice and would create more bureaucracy for our police.
Last year over 1,000 foreign criminals were deported under the European Arrest Warrant. These were issued most often for drug trafficking, murder, fraud, child sex offences and rape. We need to cooperate with partners in Europe to ensure people who have committed these serious crimes do not get away with it.
I know there are those in your party, as well as UKIP, who would like to see Britain opt out of the European Arrest Warrant. But this would make it much harder to deport foreign criminals and would also make it more difficult for us to bring British citizens who have committed crimes back to our country to face justice. I hope you will agree this is the wrong move for Britain and will recognise the cross-party support that exists behind your position.
We would also be extremely concerned if there was any delay beyond 1 December in opting back in. It would be highly damaging for the fight against crime if victims and the police were left in limbo as a result of delays and political handling problems within the Conservative party.
We will support you in Parliament in voting to opt back into the European Arrest Warrant and the other vital measures. I therefore urge you to ensure we can do this as swiftly as possible to demonstrate the clear Parliamentary majority that exists in favour of these vital crime fighting measures, and to make sure that victims and the police get the support they need.
I would be grateful if you could confirm when the Government will be opting back into these vital European cooperation measures.
Yours sincerely,
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Shadow Home Secretary
