UK will vote to keep EU justice measures

The British government will easily win a House of Commons vote on Monday that will allow it to continue operating the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and other European Union justice measures, despite a revolt by Conservative MPs.

Last year the UK announced it was opting out of 110 EU-wide justice and home affairs measures, but wanted to rejoin 35 of them, including the extradition rules and the UK’s membership of Europol and Eurojust.

The EAW and other measures are unpopular with Eurosceptic Conservatives, who complain that Britons have been needlessly extradited and subjected to long terms in jail abroad without trial.

Efforts by Conservative MPs to defeat Monday night’s vote are now expected to fail badly, following a determined campaign by Tory whips to encourage opponents to stay away from the debate.

Last night there were signals that fewer than 30 MPs would vote against the proposals tabled by home secretary Theresa May, who has spent days holding meetings with Tory MPs to persuade them not to rebel. However, many MPs – not just those in the Conservative Party – are unhappy about having one vote on rejoining 35 of the justice co-operation measures rather than individual votes on each.

Oddly, the motion before MPs does not specifically mention the European Arrest Warrant but leader of the House William Hague said on Thursday it was not unprecedented for MPs to be asked to accept a statutory instrument before it had been fully drafted.

A cross-party succession of House of Commons committee chairmen, however, yesterday criticised the government, with Tory MP Bill Cash, who leads the EU scrutiny committee, saying MPs were “not getting a say” in deciding which measures the UK rejoined.

Take-it-or-leave-it package

Labour’s Keith Vaz, who heads the influential home affairs committee, said Monday’s “debate , on an unamendable, take-it-or-leave-it package” did not give MPs a vote on the EAW. Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith said the justice committee he leads had already “made clear its view” that MPs should be the ones to decide the final list of measures to be voted on.

The Law Society of England and Wales acknowledged the concerns, but warned that the UK would be “a haven for criminals” if it removed itself from the EAW. Describing it as an essential measure in the fight against crime, the Law Society’s president, Andrew Caplen, said the issue “should be taken on its own merits”.