Arrest and Extradition in Europe

On 11 June, William Rees-Mogg of The Times made some very important criticisms of the new European arrest and extradition procedures, ending his article with the conclusion: “We have made British extradition law respond to every judge in Europe and to the varying laws of every European country. That was a crazy thing to do.” To read the original article, click here.

In a letter to The Times today, Bill Cash offered some support to William Rees-Mogg in criticising the Labour government’s involvement in accepting European policy against the better judgement of Blair's own parliamentary colleagues: “The European Scrutiny Committee issued a warning to the House of Commons against the Government abandoning the safeguard of dual criminality, by which you cannot be charged for something that is a crime in, say, Italy, that is not a crime in Britain. … Our own Prime Minister, who authorised our commitment to the European arrest warrant in the furtherance of European integration, could now be hoist by his own petard.” To read Bill Cash’s letter, click here.

Since the Labour government ignored significant criticism on this issue particularly with regards to the principle of dual criminality – which we have documented on The European Arrest Warrant and in the May-June issue of The European Journal – there was no real excuse for them to have accepted these.