‘North faces crime wave post Brexit’
THE North’s Justice Minister has urged that a Brexit trade deal be agreed, or else an ‘organi sed crime bonanza’ could loom large.
Naomi Long described ‘ huge uncertainty’ f or justice agencies with just weeks to go until the end of the transition period.
The Alliance Party leader singled out extradition as a particular area of concern, telling a Westminster committee that the justice system could be l eft using 1950s mechanisms for extradition.
‘We can’t combat 2020 crime and security threats using 1950 tools,’ she said.
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee previously heard that instead of six to eight weeks under the European Arrest Warrant, extradition could take up to two years.
Ms Long told the committee yesterday it is ‘imperative’ that the UK and EU agree a future security partnership.
‘However, even if they do, it will not have the same breadth of measures to which we currently have access. The outcome will be sub-optimal unless we have the same access to current IT systems, l egal instruments and EU agencies that we currently enjoy,’ she told MPs.
‘We cannot really afford to lose those key EU measures if we – tragically in my view – exit without a deal.’
She added that it is ‘imperative that bilateral arrangements are put in place to bridge any gaps in capability’ in terms of delivering justice.
‘There is huge uncertainty for justice partners. There are only weeks to go until the end of the transition period, yet we do not know what beyond that will look like,’ she said.
Ms Long added that ‘detail on the outcome of the negotiations and clarity’ are urgently needed i n order to try to embed a culture of compliance and lawfulness as part of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The minister said anything l ess than a good security partnership between the UK and EU, or a substantial bilateral agreement between the UK and Ireland, would be a ‘ f ailure of policy- making and negotiation’.
She also raised the potential f or unrest i f people are ‘politically disturbed’ by the outcomes of Brexit, as well as potential for the expansion of black- market activity in a scenario of different tariffs on either side of the border.
She said: ‘It isn’t just the future security partnership that affects policing and justice in Northern Ireland, it is also the economic decisions that are made, because if we have increased differentials in terms of tariffs and other issues around the border, then we will end up with a potential bonanza for organised crime.’
DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr queried if Ms Long’s department had a ‘ can- do’ attitude towards Brexit planning. She said it is for the UK government to have a can-do attitude in talks with the EU, adding: ‘If we’re not able to datashare, we’re not able to do our jobs on a cross-border basis. Optimism will take you so far but unfortunately you can’t cash cheques on that basis... I am not going to try to gloss over the difficulties this will create, the challenges it poses to law enforcement, because that is not my job. My job is to respond to the reality.’
‘A failure of policy-making’