Tag Archives: european arrest warrant

Rob Blackie

Liberal Democrats should campaign to fix Brexit

By Rob Blackie | Tue 4th February 2020 - 9:35 am

What should Lib Dems do now?

Should we just be campaign to rejoin the EU? Or something else?

I suggest that we fix Brexit first.

Last year people voted Conservative because they thought Brexit was a distraction from Britain’s real problems. Over 70% of the public thought this. Most people who voted Remain thought this. They thought that the only way to get Brexit out of the way, was to push it through.

Of course this isn’t true. Brexit isn’t over. And we’ll be stuck with the problems it creates for decades.

But if we campaign to rejoin straight away, it will be counter-productive. People won’t see the problems caused by Brexit, because most of them won’t be obvious until the transition period ends.

And, just as everybody sighs in relief that Brexit is over, we’ll look like obsessives wanting to restart the argument. A bit like John Redwood in the 1990s.

The British people have given the government a chance to get Brexit right.

Lib Dems should therefore work to fix Brexit. Fixing Brexit means accepting it’s happening. For now.

That means minimising the damage. Damage done to the economy. And damage done to our friends and neighbours.

Today there are three things we can campaign on.

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Mark Valladares

27 January 2020 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 27th January 2020 - 11:00 pm
  • Liberal Democrats: UK access to crime databases at risk post Brexit
  • Welsh Liberal Democrats welcome landmark for Welsh education
  • Liberal Democrats challenge Minister on Met facial recognition surveillance

Liberal Democrats: UK access to crime databases at risk post Brexit

Following reports that the exchange of key security information is at risk post Brexit, due to concerns over Britain’s record in protecting personal information, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine said:

Our police rely heavily on co-operation with our EU partners to identify criminals and bring them to justice. It’s incredibly alarming that these government scandals threaten to undermine that co-operation, making us all less

…

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Mark Valladares

29 November 2019 – the overnight press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 29th November 2019 - 7:15 am
  • Lib Dems: Johnson’s Brexit plans would let thousands of criminals off the hook
  • Liberal Democrats will invest £1 billion a year to restore community policing
  • Lib Dems: Ofsted stats reveal Tory failure on school standards

Lib Dems: Johnson’s Brexit plans would let thousands of criminals off the hook

  • Estimated 6,000 criminals could evade justice if Johnson’s Brexit goes ahead
  • UK police to be locked out of EU crime database used 1.6 million times a day
  • Brexit would undermine UK’s ability to tackle terrorism and organised crime

The Liberal Democrats have warned Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans risk enabling thousands of criminals to escape justice, after analysis revealed the …

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Mark Valladares

14 November 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 14th November 2018 - 11:50 pm

It’s been a long day today, with the last press release issued after 10 p.m….

  • Tories “unacceptably risky” on impact of Brexit food shortages
  • Number Ten bows to pressure on FOBT stakes
  • Failures on women’s health becoming the norm
  • DUP “punishment beating” comments unacceptable and dangerous
  • ‘No Brexit’ still a very real possibility
  • Country still none the wiser on PM’s blindfold Brexit
  • Brexit will rob UK of crucial cross-border crime-fighting tools

Tories “unacceptably risky” on impact of Brexit food shortages

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has warned the Tories are being “unacceptably risky” as a House of Commons committee finds that failures in preparing for Brexit mean food shortages …

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Joe Otten

Brexiters have nowhere to hide on crime, policing, terror and intelligence

By Joe Otten | Tue 19th April 2016 - 1:38 pm

With the Brexit debate currently focusing on the question of trade, Brexiters are able to wrongly claim that the UK would enjoy better trade agreements outside the EU, sooner or later. This exercise in hand waving complacency is not available when it comes to our security.

This is not just about the European Arrest Warrant, responsible for the

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

European Arrest Warrant: I’m a sceptic (but not a Eurosceptic)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 10th November 2014 - 8:41 pm

As I write, the House of Commons is debating the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).

Well, sort of. In fact, the Speaker, John Bercow, has already pointed out that “there will not today be a vote on the specific matter of membership of the European arrest warrant”. But Home Secretary Theresa May and Justice Secretary Chris Grayling say there will. In the Tories’ Alice in Wonderland world, when they use the word vote it means just what they choose it to mean, neither more nor less.

As with any debate involving Europe, there is a danger of it being used as …

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Sam Phripp

Opinion: Criminals behind bars – do these ads go too far?

By Sam Phripp | Tue 1st April 2014 - 1:15 pm

crimeHave you seen this part of the LibDem website? It went live following the Nick v Nigel debate last week, and gives examples (and pictures) of criminals locked up thanks to the European Arrest Warrant. Like others, I find this page distasteful and discomforting. Yet still, I support it.

I actually missed the debate last Wednesday because I was attending a Parish Council meeting, but what I read on Twitter spoke volumes. Nick won the factual debate, but Farage did well on emotion. I think we need to remember that, because it’s key to the whole issue. As a party, we can win the debate on facts for as long as we like, but it won’t necessarily win us many votes. Why? Because that isn’t how people make decisions.

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Newsmoggie

LibLink: Tim Farron: European Arrest Warrant is a vital weapon in the fight against crime

By Newsmoggie | Wed 15th January 2014 - 4:48 pm

Farron the Ubiquitous (he is, but that’s not a complaint) has been writing for the Huffington Post again, this time, as befits the man in charge of the European Election campaign, on the European Arrest Warrant.

First, he reminds us of the high profile cases where the warrant has brought British criminals back to justice.

Hussain Osman fled to Italy after the failed 21 July 2005 London bombings, during which he placed an explosive at Shepherd’s Bush tube station. Just one week later, he was tracked down and arrested by Italian police on a euro-warrant issued by a British court before

…

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Joe Otten

Liblink: Sarah Ludford on the 12th anniversary of the European Arrest Warrant

By Joe Otten | Mon 16th December 2013 - 2:43 pm

The European Arrest warrant, allowing those suspected of crimes in one EU member state to be arrested anywhere in the EU, was agreed 12 years ago. Now under fire from a small group of (soft on crime?) Conservative MPs, Sarah Ludford MEP responds in the Huffington Post.

Since 2009, hundreds of suspects have been extradited back to the UK to face charges using the EAW, including 63 for child sex offences, 105 for drug trafficking, 27 for rape and 44 for murder, while 4,000 suspects have been sent to other countries. …

In fact, the EAW has become so integral

…

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Giles Goodall

Opinion: Tories soft on crime, Lib Dems tough on Tories

By Giles Goodall | Tue 9th July 2013 - 6:08 pm

If ever there was a fault line in the Coalition, it has been over the two parties’ attitudes to Europe. The possibility for a mass opt-out by Britain from a raft of EU measures in justice and home affairs opened up a rift between the Tories and Lib Dems which has rumbled on for more than a year.

Liberal Democrats insisted that the government heed the overwhelming advice of the police and security services to maintain effective crime-fighting measures which help keep Britain safe. Time after time, law enforcers lined up to ask the government not to jettison the EU …

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Thais Portilho-Shrimpton

The Independent View: Seeking justice across borders

By Thais Portilho-Shrimpton | Wed 6th March 2013 - 12:53 pm

In October last year, Theresa May announced in the House of Commons the Conservatives’ intention to opt-out of 130 measures of EU criminal law cooperation.

We, at Justice Across Borders, are opposed to it – and many others are too – but the reality is, the way this issue has been presented by the Home Secretary, and has been debated so far, means nothing to the man in the street. That is why we have taken on the challenge to start a debate that can be joined by all.

Yesterday, we met the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal …

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Mark Valladares

This week in Europe – 28-31 January(ish)

By Mark Valladares | Fri 1st February 2013 - 4:22 pm

Attempt to introduce the British model to European railways fails

Virgin trainGermany has succeeded in changing the content of a European Commission proposal on the liberalisation of railways before the proposal was even published. The intention, to introduce greater competition in rail passenger services by separating infrastructure owners from passenger service operators failed after stiff resistance from Deutsche Bahn and SNCF.

Ironically, SNCF is run as a separate entity already but it is intended to merge the two companies once more. Instead, vertically integrated rail companies will have to erect firewalls between their …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 7 Comments

Opinion: Who’s the odd one out?

By Charles Beaumont | Wed 17th October 2012 - 2:57 pm

Name the odd one out: Timothy Edmonds (convicted paedophile), Hussain Osman (convicted terrorist), Julian Assange (Wikileaks founder wanted for questioning by Swedish police) and Abu Hamza (Egyptian-born militant Islamist now facing terrorism charges in a New York court). Not too difficult – it’s Abu Hamza, who was extradited to the USA after an eight-year legal battle.

The other three are currently, or have been in the past, the subject of European arrest warrants. All of them, if Theresa May gets her way, would have been able to evade justice for as long as

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 23 Comments
Giles Goodall

Opinion: The Tories: tough on Europe, soft on crime

By Giles Goodall | Tue 9th October 2012 - 10:43 am

The news that Sussex teacher Jeremy Forrest has been arrested in Bordeaux on suspicion of abducting pupil Megan Stammers is a timely reminder of the value of EU cooperation to fight crime. The maths teacher, who now faces imminent extradition, joins a long list of suspects caught with a European arrest warrant and swiftly returned to face justice in the UK. But the Conservatives’ dogmatic opposition to all things European is now putting the safety of Britons at risk.

The European arrest warrant, in operation since 2004, has succeeded in cutting average extradition times in the EU from one …

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Mark Pack

Sarah Ludford praises European Arrest Warrant’s latest use in London

By Mark Pack | Wed 5th September 2012 - 2:55 pm

From a press release:

London MEP Sarah Ludford has welcomed the use of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in a bid to apprehend a former Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing children at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, west London. After failing to answer bail the man, named by police as Lawrence Soper, is believed to have fled to Italy.

Sarah Ludford commented:

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