Police and agencies are still planning for no deal

POLICE AND security planning for a no-deal Brexit will continue “until we are told to stop”, a Home Office Minister has said.

Nick Hurd told MPs work on contingency arrangements is carrying on, including preparations for the possible loss of access to EU tools and databases.

Policing Minister Mr Hurd told the Commons Home Affairs Committee yesterday: “We are implementing no-deal contingencies. That work carries on.

“Nothing in the light of recent events and conversations has changed the direction we have given to our operating partners.

“We will keep going until we are told to stop.”

Since the referendum in 2016, questions have been raised about access to EU tools used by UK law enforcement agencies.

Senior officers have highlighted the role played by measures including the European Arrest Warrant, a legal framework introduced to speed up the extradition of individuals between member states, and the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), a vast database of real-time alerts.

The Government is seeking a bespoke deal on security co-operation with the EU.

If there is no agreement, authorities will revert to alternative conventions, international policing tools and bilateral channels to enable extradition of suspects, trace missing people and share intelligence about crime and terrorism.

Mr Hurd said the fall-back options are “tried and tested”, but acknowledged they are “clunkier” and do not replace the existing arrangements like-for-like.

He told the committee: “Our ambition is to try and maintain as far as possible the capabilities that we’ve got.

“If there’s one area of the whole Brexit negotiation where you can see the mutual interest so clearly aligned it is in the area of security.”

Meanwhile, Labour claimed a bad Brexit deal could risk lives by stopping ambulances crossing the border in Northern Ireland.

Shadow Health Minister Justin Madders said: “There is a real danger we could end up in a situation where an ambulance drives up to one side of the border and another meets it from the other side to transfer the patient.”