Agreement With Europe To Keep British Citizens Safe From Cross-border Crime

The Home Secretary has announced that the UK will seek to retain 35 European cross-border policing and justice measures - including the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), a vital crime-fighting tool, and our continued membership of Europol.

The announcement follows more than a year of negotiations between Liberal Democrats and Conservatives inside Government over which measures should be retained when the UK exercises the mass opt-out of European Justice and Home Affairs measures negotiated by Labour in the last Parliament.

In addition to the 35 measures, the UK has also chosen to participate in a further nine measures that replace previous provisions and retain the minimum European standards established in a further 20 measures.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, who led the negotiations in Government for the Liberal Democrats, said:

"This agreement will help keep British citizens safe from cross-border crime.

"This is a good outcome for UK law enforcement and a good outcome for the Liberal Democrats.

"We have successfully fought to maintain Britain's membership of the key cross-border policing and crime measures while shedding obsolete or redundant ones.

"Clear commitments to the EAW and Europol send the clearest possible signal that we are serious about working with our EU partners to tackle serious crime.

"This is a good deal because it does what we promised all along: that we would only exercise the mass opt-out if we preserved the key measures which are in the national interest."