EU: Future Relationship White Paper

Alex Sobel Excerpts

Thursday 12th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. I understand the legitimate concerns that people have, or the questions that they have, about the overarching structure and framework of the strategy that the UK adopts. That is something that should be debated in this place and among the wider public, just as we are debating this 100-page White Paper. However, some of the questions, or interventions, seem to be more about trying to make sure that the UK stutters, when we should be proceeding apace to negotiate a deal that is good for Members in all parts of the House and for those in all corners of the country.

[Alex Sobel (Leeds North West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Paragraph 53 of the White Paper, on page 62, states that the UK will

“continue close cooperation with EU law enforcement and criminal justice agencies”,

and paragraph 54 states that

“the UK will respect the remit of the Court of Justice of the European Union”.

How does the Secretary of State reconcile that view with his own votes? In 2012 he voted against EU data-sharing for criminal justice purposes, in 2013 he voted in favour of the UK’s opting out of all EU police and criminal matters, and in 2014 he voted against the UK’s rejoining EU schemes for closer political and judicial co-operation in criminal matters.

[Dominic Raab]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his detailed scrutiny of my past record. As I have argued all along and as the White Paper makes clear, the UK can want to maintain, and even strengthen, operational law enforcement co-operation with the EU—through, for instance, bodies such as Europol and Eurojust—without being subject to the supranational jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and all the decision-making fetters. Indeed, Europol and Eurojust have a large number of association agreements with non-EU countries. I believe that the US has more liaison officers posted at Europol than the average EU country.