Now May hints we could quit the EU
... as she warns rebels over arrest warrant vote
THERESA May yesterday suggested Britain should leave the European Union unless it embraces major reforms as she sought to crush a rebellion by Tory MPs.
The Home Secretary, a leading contender to succeed David Cameron, burnished her Eurosceptic credentials by flirting with the exit of Britain from Europe – the so-called ‘Brexit’.
But she told rebel colleagues they were picking the wrong battle by opposing British membership of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) which allows police to extradite suspects quickly between EU states.
The UK has to decide by December 1 whether to continue to adhere to the EU criminal justice and law enforcement measures. The UK has opted out of all 133, but ministers want to opt back in to 35, including the EAW. MPs will vote today and though the Tory leadership is facing a backbench rebellion, the measure will pass with Labour and Liberal Democrat backing. Mrs May said yesterday she had secured signifi-
‘Need to argue for changes’
cant changes to the way the warrant operates, allowing Britain to block extradition of UK suspects for minor offences.
But she said: ‘If we want to stop foreign criminals from coming to Britain, deal with European fighters coming back from Syria, stop British criminals evading justice abroad, prevent foreign criminals evading justice by hiding here, and get foreign criminals out of our prisons, these measures are vital.’
However, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, she made a wider plea for major reforms to the EU so membership is more in Britain’s interests. Going beyond her law and order brief, she insisted Brussels red tape is holding back the UK economy.
She said: ‘We need to argue for changes. I believe the politicians who argue we are better off in the EU, whatever the terms, are wrong. But I also believe those who argue we are better off out, whatever the terms, are also wrong.’ Colleagues saw Mrs May’s intervention as an attempt to reassure Tory backbenches of her Euroscepticism ahead of a potential leadership contest if the party loses the next general election. She is privately said to take an ‘even more hardline’ approach to European human rights law, for example, than Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.
Cabinet ministers Philip Hammond and Michael Gove have gone further, saying publicly they would vote to leave the EU on the current terms.
The EAW was created in 2004 to ensure a warrant issued by a judge in one EU country can be enforced in another. It applies to offences punishable with more than 12 months’ jail. Critics say it has been used to pursue Britons for minor offences.
Sources said the whips’ office had significantly diminished the number of Tory rebels opposing the EAW. Polls suggest public support for the system, with 56 per cent saying the UK should be in it, and 18 per cent disagreeing.