Data critical to tackling crime – senior officer
out of the European Union, which is what people voted for”.
With customs arrangements emerging as the key stumbling block to a deal on EU withdrawal, the issue has the potential to split the Cabinet, where advocates of an independent trade policy like Boris Johnson and Liam Fox are pitted against others who fear barriers to commerce in Europe.
Downing Street has been privWately warned that a customs partnership could collapse the Government, as committed Brexiteers on the Tory backbenches regard it as unacceptable as it would deliver “Brexit in name only”.
Although the European Commission has said it wants a solution for the Irish border by its forthcoming summit in June, there is no requirement on Mrs May to come to a final decision at Wednesday’s meeting of the Brexit strategy and negotiations sub-committee.
It was widely expected that she may seek to stave off potential resignations by keeping all options open.
Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, one of those attending the meeting, indicated a final decision may not be reached - with the full Cabinet expected to consider the issue.
He told Today the discussions would “start this afternoon and will probably continue in other meetings”, adding: “I expect we will come to a decision on this, as well as on other important elements of our negotiating position, over the next few weeks.”
Under the customs partnership plan, Britain would collect tariffs on the EU’s behalf at ports and airports, passing on a share of the money to Brussels.
If the UK decided to set different tariffs from its European neighbours, traders would claim refunds from HM Revenue and Customs for goods which stay in Britain.
Mr Robbins is understood to regard the partnership as a means of avoiding a hard border in Ireland while keeping the UK out of the European customs union. Failure to come up with a solution could leave the UK forced to fall back on the European Commission’s “backstop” option, which would effectively draw a customs border down the Irish Sea.
Mrs May has insisted that no British prime minister could accept such a scenario. UK police use a European criminal records database 600 times a day on average, a Lords committee has heard.
The figure was disclosed by a senior police officer as he emphasised the importance of EU security systems.
Richard Martin, a deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, told peers: “The access to data is so critical to track people, to track property, to understand where the threat is.”
Mr Martin said the best outcome after Brexit would be to “continue to operate as we do now, with all the tools that we have at our disposal now”.
He added that continuing cooperation on law enforcement and security was “as important for our partners as it is for us”.
The officer told the EU Home Affairs sub-committee: “Crime is global in nature. It’s vital we can have the best picture we can.”
A host of measures and tools have come under scrutiny following the referendum in 2016, and questions over post-Brexit arrangements intensified in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.
As well as the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), senior figures in policing and counter-terrorism have highlighted the role played by the European Arrest Warrant, a legal framework introduced to speed up the extradition of individuals between member states; the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), a database of real-time alerts; and Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency.
Referring to ECRIS, Mr Martin said: “We on average contact European colleagues around that, 600 times a day. Some of those have led to some really crucial arrests.”