EU gives Britain key information to combat terrorism, says Cameron

Britain’s membership of the EU provides vital information needed to combat terrorist threats and protect borders, according to Prime Minister David Cameron. As momentum grows for the forthcoming EU referendum debate in Britain, Cameron has shifted focus to the security benefits of membership of the EU, namely the information sharing between EU countries that allows terrorists and other criminals to be tracked down, prevented from crossing borders and extradited. Cameron said: “You know that we have that vital information when terrorists and criminals are travelling around Europe… The people who want to take a different path, they have to start answering some questions about what it would look like if we are not in that organisation and not party to those rules. And I know they fear that, that the time will come pretty soon when they have to start answering some of those questions.” Additionally, a spokesperson for Cameron also referenced the current situation where UK border guards are stationed in northern France and suggested that leaving the EU could undermine these kind of relationships. The spokesman said: “We currently have these juxtaposed controls with France that, should the UK leave the EU, there is no guarantee that those controls would remain in place. If those controls weren’t in place then there would be nothing to stop thousands of people crossing the Channel overnight and arriving in Kent and claiming asylum. “We have an arrangement in place with France. We are both EU partners. Should we leave the EU there is no guarantee that the relationship, in terms of the controls we have in France at the moment, would continue. If those controls didn’t continue then there are thousands of people there who are there specifically because they want to come to the UK who would then come to the UK.” Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox has criticised the Prime Minister for his comments and accused him of ‘scaremongering’. He tweeted: “Sad and disappointed to see our prime minister stoop to this level of scaremongering… especially as he knows the Calais agreement is nothing to do with the EU and agreed between the two governments.”