Trade and security link vital in Brexit talks, says Michael Fallon

Britain's defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has insisted that trade and security must be linked in Brexit negotiations, warning that his country and the EU would both be worse off if they failed to reach a deal.

After prime minister Theresa May warned that failure to agree a Brexit deal would weaken security co-operation with the EU, her government appeared to retreat from the implied threat, stressing that the United Kingdom's commitment to European security was unconditional.

However, speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr yesterday, Mr Fallon said the negotiations had to cover both a trade deal and issues such as counter-terrorism and police co-operation.

“It is very important to link trade and security because what we are now looking for is a deep and special relationship that covers both economic and security co-operation. Those two things go together,” Mr Fallon said.

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Europol

A British government report last year revealed that Britain uses Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, more than almost any other member state. It also uses European arrest warrants heavily, prompting some EU negotiators to view the security threat as an empty one.

The prime minister on Sunday spoke to Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo, to reassure him that the UK would stand up for the overseas territory during the negotiations. The EU's draft negotiating guidelines state that no post-Brexit arrangements agreed with the UK will apply to Gibraltar without Spain's consent.

“She reiterated our long-standing position that the UK remains steadfastly committed to our support for Gibraltar, its people and its economy,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

“The prime minister said we will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes, nor will we ever enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.”

Neutral

Until now, the EU has sought to remain neutral on Spain’s territorial claim to Gibraltar, which it ceded to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht.

The former Conservative leader Michael Howard said the prime minister should show the same resolve over Gibraltar as Margaret Thatcher did over the Falklands, where a 10-week war in 1982 left almost 1,000 dead.

“There is no question whatever that our government will stand by Gibraltar – 35 years ago this week another woman prime minister sent a task force halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country. I am absolutely certain our current prime minister will show the same resolve,” Howard told Sky News.

Joint sovereignty

In the referendum held last year, 99 per cent of Gibraltarians voted to remain in the EU, but Spain’s conservative government has suggested that the territory should not be covered by a post-Brexit trade deal unless it accepts joint sovereignty under Madrid and London.

Gibraltar, which has a population of about 30,000, rejected joint sovereignty in a 2002 referendum by a 98 per cent majority.

Mr Picardo said on Sunday that he was “energetically and enthusiastically” supporting Ms May in her Brexit negotiations.