European security ties ‘too precious’ for Brexit talks

LONDON — Britain's intelligence expertise may be "too precious" to use as a bargaining tool in the upcoming Brexit talks, experts said, after a terror attack in London highlighted the need for continued European security cooperation.

The suggestion that Britain could use security to negotiate with Brussels came following US President Donald Trump's election and his calls for a more isolationist foreign policy.

"If the US does adopt a more isolationist stance, then ongoing security cooperation with the UK becomes more valuable," the Institute for Government said in November.

"This could strengthen the UK's negotiating hand in Brexit talks, as it could use the promise of ongoing cooperation on security measures to extract a more favorable deal from the EU," the think tank said in a report.

Prime Minister Theresa May in a speech in January talked up the importance of Britain's intelligence to the rest of Europe, suggesting it could be part of the negotiations.

"Our intelligence capabilities — unique in Europe — have already saved countless lives in very many terrorist plots that have been thwarted in countries across our continent," she said.

But using security as a negotiating chip would entail the possibility of withholding cooperation — an unthinkable prospect for most analysts in an era of shared threats.

The attack in London last week in which 52-yearold Khalid Masood — said by the Islamic State group to be one of its "soldiers" — killed four people and injured dozens more outside Britain's parliament underlined that fact.