EU could refuse to hand over novichok pair if there’s no deal

THE two Russians suspected of the Salisbury novichok attack could escape arrest if the UK crashes out of Europe with a Brexit no deal, police say.

Senior officers warned that failing to secure a deal will put people at risk as forces fall back on ‘slower and more cumbersome’ procedures than the agreements currently in place.

It would leave foreign criminals potentially free to roam Britain’s streets, they claimed, with not every other country signed up to the system.

Officers are drawing up plans for a ‘safety net’ of older legislation so they can continue tracing wanted people, sharing intelligence and working across borders. But the back-up proposals will see checks on suspects taking months instead of days and police potentially powerless to arrest fugitives.

Last night the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said that the ‘moment of truth’ on whether a deal can be reached is only a month away. Michel Barnier said the EU was ‘improving’ its offer on the issue of the Irish border, which remains the main obstacle, and that it would become clear at a summit in Brussels on October 18 whether or not Britain will leave without a deal.

Earlier Sara Thornton, who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said Britain faces losing up to 40 policing ‘tools’ used tens of thousands of times a day to trace criminals.

She said other options were being examined by 50 officers and staff in a new £2million unit. But she added: ‘Alternatives, where they do exist, are slower and more bureaucratic and ultimately less effective.’ They will ‘make it harder for us to protect UK citizens and make it harder to protect EU citizens. We are determined to do everything we can to mitigate that, but it will be hard’.

One of the key powers UK police fear losing is European arrest warrants, introduced in 2004. The two Russian GRU military intelligence officers suspected of attempting to murder Sergei Skripal in Salisbury are wanted under the system. But if no security deal is secured Scotland Yard will be left relying on an extradition convention dating from 1957.

European arrest warrants are used up to 1,600 times a year by the UK. For every one Briton held, eight suspects are detained in Britain on behalf of other EU states.

Mrs Thornton said: ‘A very current example would be the two GRU officers who were responsible for the novichok attack. If they are to step out of Russia into Europe there are European Arrest Warrants waiting for them.

‘If we lose the European arrest warrant on March 29 because there was no deal then we have to rely on the 1957 convention and its more complicated extradition process.’

BMW will shut down its Mini factory in Oxford for a month after Britain leaves the EU in case of a no-deal Brexit.

The German car giant was originally planning to shut the plant next August for annual maintenance. But it will move this forward to April 1 to minimise disruption if Britain leaves the EU on March 29 without a deal.

The company is concerned that customs checks would delay the import of car components. A spokesman said BMW remains committed to its UK operations and added: ‘While we believe the worst case scenario is an unlikely outcome, we have to plan for it’.

‘Brexit moment of truth a month away’