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Theresa May says UK to keep European Arrest Warrant Theresa May says UK to keep European Arrest Warrant
(35 minutes later)
The UK wants to remain signed up to the European Arrest Warrant, Home Secretary Theresa May has told MPs.The UK wants to remain signed up to the European Arrest Warrant, Home Secretary Theresa May has told MPs.
She said the UK would opt out of all 133 EU law and order measures in the Lisbon Treaty and seek to rejoin 35 of them "in the national interest".She said the UK would opt out of all 133 EU law and order measures in the Lisbon Treaty and seek to rejoin 35 of them "in the national interest".
She rejected calls by Tory MPs to scrap the warrant but said it would be reformed to exclude minor crimes. She rejected calls by Tory MPs to scrap the warrant, but said it would be reformed to exclude minor crimes.
Labour said the announcement was "hardly a triumph of repatriation" and accused Mrs May of being soft on crime.Labour said the announcement was "hardly a triumph of repatriation" and accused Mrs May of being soft on crime.
To shouts of "shame" from Tory benches, Mrs May said Britain would rejoin the European Arrest Warrant, but British law will be amended to "rectify problems and increase protections" for people wanted for extradition. To shouts of "shame" from Tory benches, Mrs May said Britain would rejoin the European Arrest Warrant, but said British law would be amended to "rectify problems and increase protections" for people wanted for extradition.
Coalition views 'Additional safeguards'
In a statement to the Commons, Mrs May said: "For reasons of policy, principle and pragmatism, I believe that it is in the national interest to exercise the United Kingdom's opt-out and rejoin a much smaller set of measures which help us to cooperate with our European neighbours in the fight against serious and organised crime. "For reasons of policy, principle and pragmatism, I believe that it is in the national interest to exercise the United Kingdom's opt-out and rejoin a much smaller set of measures which help us to cooperate with our European neighbours in the fight against serious and organised crime.
"I also believe that Her Majesty's government must strike the right balance between supporting law enforcement and protecting our traditional liberties."I also believe that Her Majesty's government must strike the right balance between supporting law enforcement and protecting our traditional liberties.
"What I have outlined today will achieve both of those goals." "What I have outlined today will achieve both of those goals," she told MPs.
She said the UK would also be seeking to opt back in to pan-EU crime-fighting agency Europol. Mrs May promised "additional safeguards" to stop the European Arrest Warrant being used to extradite British nationals for relatively minor offences.
The Labour and Lib Dem coalition partners have different views about the UK's role in the European Union, with the Conservatives seeking a renegotiation of the UK's membership and a referendum by 2017, and the more pro-European Liberal Democrats calling for more active engagement on current terms. The Extradition Act will be amended to ensure that people can only be extradited if the country seeking them has made a decision to charge and try them, unless their presence is required to make that decision.
Conservative MPs say the opt-out decision, which is likely to be subject to a vote in the House of Commons next week, is a chance to assert the UK's sovereignty, but Labour says the government's stance is confused. The law will also be changed to make sure that British citizens cannot be extradited for acts that are not an offence under British law in cases where part of the conduct took place in the UK.
'Defunct' She said the UK would also be seeking to opt back in to pan-EU intelligence sharing agency Europol, "provided that Europol is not given the power to direct national law enforcement agencies to initiate investigations or share data that conflicts with our national security".
As part of an agreement reached by the last Labour government during negotiations on the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, the UK has the right to withdraw from 133 law and order measures next year or retain all of them. 'Playing Britannia'
Last October, Mrs May indicated that her preferred option was to exercise the opt-out because the UK did not feel bound by rules pre-dating the Lisbon negotiations "some of which are useful, some less so and some which are now entirely defunct". The government has tabled a motion for Commons debate next week on the conditions for rejoining Europol, to be held after a vote on the wider plan to opt back in to the 35 measures.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper accused Mrs May of a U-turn on the European Arrest Warrant, after previously suggesting it was not in the UK's interest.
"Why has it taken the home secretary three years to realise we don't want to go back to the days of the Costa Del Crime, where British criminals could flee to Spain or European criminals could find safe haven here?" she asked MPs.
Ms Cooper said many of the crime and security measures Mrs May wanted the UK to opt out of were no longer in use, had been replaced or had never been used by Britain.
"The home secretary has tried to play Britannia, clothing herself in the union jack, parading powers that she is repatriating from Brussels, but where is the substance?" she added.
She accused the home secretary of jeopardising the fight against serious cross-border crime by playing politics with the issue.
The UK will require the agreement of the EU's 26 other members to be able to re-adopt selected measures.The UK will require the agreement of the EU's 26 other members to be able to re-adopt selected measures.
Some Conservative MPs have been critical of the pan-European warrant scheme, introduced in 2004 to speed up the extradition process for convicted offenders and criminal suspects across European borders.Some Conservative MPs have been critical of the pan-European warrant scheme, introduced in 2004 to speed up the extradition process for convicted offenders and criminal suspects across European borders.
They say it is being used for trivial offences and it has led to many more requests for extradition of UK citizens abroad, many of them protracted, than vice versa.
But the Lib Dems say UK participation in the warrant, which was used to detain and extradite from Italy one of those subsequently convicted of involvement in attempted bombings in London in July 2005, makes it easier to bring offenders to justice and Labour says ditching it would be "crazy".But the Lib Dems say UK participation in the warrant, which was used to detain and extradite from Italy one of those subsequently convicted of involvement in attempted bombings in London in July 2005, makes it easier to bring offenders to justice and Labour says ditching it would be "crazy".