Brexit ‘means police and security services can get tougher powers’

Police and security services can have ‘tougher powers’ to keep the country safer now Brexit has happened, says Priti Patel

  • Priti Patel has vowed to toughen up power for security now Brexit is complete
  • Home Secretary said tools in place for keeping country safe thanks for EU deal
  • Stricter entry rules at borders and crackdown on smuggling among new plans 

Police and security services will get ‘tougher powers’ to keep the country safe now Brexit has happened, Priti Patel said today.

The Home Secretary said the ‘tools and partnerships’ were in place to protect the UK thanks to the agreement struck with the EU.

But she signalled that the government will now go further by banning foreign criminals from entering, rejecting unreliable national identity cards, and cracking down on smuggling from Europe. 

The EU and UK have implemented limited information sharing and other measures to maintain security functions under the new trade deal.  

Home Secretary Priti Patel (file picture) said the ‘tools and partnerships’ were in place to protect the UK thanks to the agreement struck with the EU

Patel pushes for more Jamaica deportations 

Priti Patel has vowed to defy ‘do-gooder’ celebrities and activist lawyers by making deportation flights to Jamaica a ‘regular drumbeat’.

The Home Secretary was dismayed last month when 23 people, including rapists and a murderer, who were due to be deported to the Caribbean country were instead removed at the 11th hour after legal challenges. 

In the end only 13 criminals were returned.

There were similar reprieves for some of those due to be flown out of the UK on a flight in February.

Since April, the Government has chartered more than 30 flights to deport criminals to countries including Albania, France, Germany, Ghana, Lithuania, Nigeria, Poland and Spain.

But a source close to Ms Patel said: ‘Each time we do a flight to Jamaica it becomes a big event. We have done two last year and both ended up with statements in Parliament. We run flights to Albania sometimes twice a week.

‘This year we will see the number of flights to Jamaica go up. They will become a regular drumbeat. 

‘It’s not fair on either the migrants or the taxpayer to have people stuck in a system where they are about to be deported.’

The deal allows for ‘effective co-operation’ between the UK and the Europol and Eurojust policing and criminal justice agencies, in line with the rules for third countries under EU law. 

However, Brussels has made it clear that under the agreement the UK does not enjoy the same level of ‘facilities’ on policing and security issues as before.

An EU briefing note said the UK would no longer have ‘direct, real-time access’ to sensitive databases covering freedom, security and justice.’

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Patel said the agreement ‘gives our police and security services the tools and partnerships to help keep the public safe.

‘And having left the EU means we can give these agencies stronger powers to keep this country safe.

‘That includes banning foreign criminals who have served more than a year in jail from entering the UK.

‘We will refuse to accept insecure national identity cards and we will be able to crack down on illegal imports of goods through the introduction of pre-arrival data on goods being imported from the EU.

‘We will also crack down on illegal immigration and reform the broken asylum system.’

Ms Patel added that Britain would be able to control who entered the country.

She said: ‘Forging a new relationship with the EU also means taking back control of our borders; allowing Britain to finally control who comes into this country.

‘Free movement has ended and people who want to live in the UK will now have to meet the requirements of our new points-based system.’

Attorney General Suella Braverman, also writing in the newspaper, said a ‘seismic shift ‘ had now taken place.

She said: ‘The jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union will no longer take precedence in the UK’s higher courts.

‘This reflects a seismic shift – which will become apparent over time – in our law-making.

‘The thousands of judgments handed down by the Luxembourg court every year – interpreting EU laws, determining questions on regulations in areas as varied as competition, health and safety, manufacturing and the environment – will no longer bind our judges at home.’

Boris Johnson signed the Brexit trade deal as it was passed by Parliament last week

Boris Johnson signed the Brexit trade deal as it was passed by Parliament last week