Liberal Democrat candidate Nick O’Shea has condemned Teresa May’s announcement yesterday that she plans to opt-out of cross-Europe law enforcements measures, including the European Arrest Warrant.

“We should be supporting efforts to coordinate cross-European policing and law enforcement. These are needed to enable British Police to combat international crimes such as drug and people trafficking. Criminal gangs don’t recognise national borders. Our police and law enforcement agencies must work closely with their colleagues in the rest of Europe to combat organised international crime. Now the Tories are trying make police do this difficult and dangerous work with one hand tied behind their backs.”

“Conservative politicians, including their candidate for PCC in Surrey, claim to support the police and law enforcement, and say they want to fight drug crime. But then they hinder the police’s ability to take effective action to tackle crimes like drug trafficking. They are clearly out of touch with local people’s concerns since these crimes are at the very top of Surrey residents’ concerns and expectation for better police performance.

“I am committed to supporting our police and other law enforcement agencies in tackling cross-border crime. We need to give them the proper tools and support to do their job.”