Official: UK not blackmailing EU on security

Some say May’s letter angling for good trade deal

LONDON - Britain’s chief negotiator in the country’s divorce from the European Union on Thursday rejected suggestions that the U.K. has threatened to end security cooperation unless it gets a good trade deal with the bloc’s remaining member countries.

The British government, meanwhile, announced plans for the huge task of converting thousands of EU laws and regulations — covering everything from the safety of airplanes to the curve of bananas — into domestic statutes.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said Prime Minister Theresa May’s letter Wednesday triggering talks on Britain’s departure made clear that Britain wants to continue to work with the EU on a range of issues, including security.

“We want a deal, and she was making the point that it’s bad for both of us if we don’t have a deal,” Davis told the BBC. “Now that, I think, is a perfectly reasonable point to make and not in any sense a threat.”

May’s six-page letter launching two years of divorce negotiations made 11 references to security and said that without a good deal, “our cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened.”

The Sun tabloid was in no doubt about what May meant: “Your money or your lives” was its front-page headline Thursday.

Britain is a European security powerhouse. It’s one of only two nuclear powers in the bloc and boasts some of the world’s most capable intelligence services. May said Wednesday that Britain probably would have to withdraw from EU police agency Europol after Brexit but wants to “maintain the degree of cooperation on these matters that we have currently.”

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, whose responsibilities include intelligence and security, also denied that May’s letter carried a threat but told Sky News: “If we left Europol, then we would take our information … with us. The fact is, the European partners want to keep our information.”

Senior European leaders responded positively to the warm overall tone of May’s letter — but they could not miss the steely undertone.

“I find the letter of Mrs. May very constructive generally, but there is also one threat in it,” European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhoftstadt said.