A ‘NO-DEAL’ Brexit could lead to a ‘significant risk to local communities’ in the UK, Willtshire’s police boss has agreed

Angus Macpherson – the man in political control of Wiltshire Police – has endorsed a letter from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners to Home Secretary Sajid Javid urging the government to work out a way to maintain agreements with the EU on cross-border policing.

The letter signed by a Conservative, Labour and independent PCC to show the sentiments cross political boundaries says: “We must do what is most practical and efficient on security and justice, for our citizens, including the 3.5 million EU citizens living in the UK, and the approximately 800,000 UK nationals living in the EU.

“We are therefore concerned that a ‘no deal’ scenario could cause delays and challenges for UK policing and justice agencies.

“There are 32 Law Enforcement and National Security Measures that are used on a daily basis in an operational policing context. Unless the Government is able to negotiate the retention of these measures following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, police and law enforcement agencies face a significant loss of operational capacity.

“As police and crime commissioners, we are increasingly concerned that such a loss of capacity could pose significant risks to our local communities.”

The letter, marked ‘Official Sensitive’ was leaked to the national press, and subsequently released by the APCC, and has been endorsed by Wiltshire’s Conservative PCC Angus Macpherson.

He said: “It is absolutely right that the APCC should be raising these important security concerns at the highest level. International co-operation is crucial in the fight against terrorism and other serious crime.”

Mr Macpherson is critical of Michel Barnier, the French chief negotiator for the EU on Brexit, who made a speech in June saying he didn’t think Britain would be able to negotiate a treaty allowing British police forces access to tools and databases such as the European Criminal Records Information System, the European Arrest Warrant and European Investigation Orders.

Mr Macpherson said: “Michel Barnier’s assumption that the UK will be unable to negotiate a post-Brexit security treaty with the EU is totally unacceptable.

“Britain has played a major role in the security of Europe and it is in nobody’s interests that security co-operation should diminish post-Brexit.”

The UK will formally leave the EU on March 29 next year, after invoking Article 50.