LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May has been accused of threatening to use the safety of UK and European citizens as a bargaining chip in Brexit talks.
In the formal letter that notified the European Union of Britain’s intention to leave, May warned that the failure to strike a deal on any future relationship would have consequences for security.
“In security terms a failure to reach agreement would mean our cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened,” she wrote in the letter to European Council President Donald Tusk.
In all, May mentioned security 11 times in the six-page letter.
During an interview Wednesday, May said a comprehensive trade agreement and security matters are part of the “raft of negotiations” that will unfold over the next two years, and she’d rather have no deal than a bad deal.
She’s not willing to put the UK in the position of “accepting things the voters have said they don’t want,” she said.
Asked specifically about the prospect of leaving Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, which co-ordinates the sharing of intelligence on terrorism and organized crime between member states, the premier said the UK would negotiate “security cooperation in a number of crime and justice matters.” Especially important, she said, is information on people crossing borders.
“Now is not a time, given the threats we’ve seen across Europe, for less cooperation,” she said.
The official start to the Brexit process came nine months after the UK voted in a hotly contested referendum that exposed deep divisions across the country.
In her letter, May said the UK wanted to pursue a “bold and ambitious” free-trade agreement with the EU in forthcoming talks.
If the country fails to strike a trade deal with Britain and defaults to trading under World Trade Organization rules, it is forecast to lose 7.5% of its GDP over 15 years, according to the UK’s own official estimates. May has made clear that the country will not remain in the bloc’s single market or customs union, which essentially make the EU a free-trade zone. Staying in the market would likely have forced Britain to keep its borders open to all EU citizens, a key argument by the Leave campaign to exit the union.
In her letter, May tried to strike a conciliatory tone with the EU, reiterating her hopes for Britain and the union to remain the closest of allies and to seek a “deep and special partnership.” She also made clear that she wanted to avoid walking away with no deal, and proposed several principles to guide negotiations.
