May pleads for post-Brexit security deal with EU

Warns that citizens’ lives are at stake.

Theresa May

British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded on Saturday for an urgent deal with the EU on post-Brexit security cooperation, warning that citizens’ lives were at stake.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, she acknowledged that no deal currently exists between the EU and a third country “that captures the full depth and breadth of our existing relationship”.

‘Cannot delay’

But she said there was no reason both sides could not come up with practical ways to create a “deep and special partnership” on security.

“We cannot delay discussions on this,” Ms. May said. She also warned European partners not to put politics above cooperation against crime and terrorism.

“This cannot be a time when any of us allow competition between partners, rigid institutional restrictions or deep-seated ideology to inhibit our cooperation and jeopardise the security of our citizens,” Ms. May told the audience.

She cautioned that if there was no special deal on security by the time Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019, speedy extraditions under the European Arrest Warrant “would cease”.

And if the U.K. were no longer part of Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, information sharing would be hampered — undermining the fight against terrorism, organised crime and cyberattacks.