Theresa May to warn EU lives will be put at risk if it lets 'deep-seated ideology' block new post-Brexit security deal

Theresa May will today warn the European Union that lives will be put at risk if it lets its "deep-seated ideology" act as a barrier to a new post-Brexit security treaty. 

In a landmark speech in Munich the Prime Minister will say that there will be "damaging real world consequences" if it puts "political doctrine" before co-operation on security. 

The EU is threatening to bar Britain from joining the European Arrest Warrant and limit access to a European police database containing information about criminals and terrorists after Brexit.

Its approach is being viewed with increasing concern by member states, who believe that co-operation with Britain's world-class security services is vital.

The heads of security services in Britain, Germany and France yesterday took the extraordinary step of issuing a joint warning that continued intelligence co-operation is "indispensible" after Brexit.

The Prime Minister's speech in Munich this morning comes moments before Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, takes to the stage. 

She will say that the UK is "unconditionally committed" to cooperation on security after Brexit and meeting "the evolving threats we face together" but said a new deal, similar to a third party trade arrangement, must be reached.

Mrs May will propose a new post-Brexit security treaty which aims to replicate the "full depth and breadth" of existing relations between Britain and the EU.

She will say: "This cannot be a time when any of us allow competition between partners, rigid institutional restrictions or deep-seated ideology to inhibit our co-operation and jeopardise the security of our citizens. We must do whatever is most practical and pragmatic in ensuring our collective security."

In a direct appeal to EU nations, the Prime Minister will highlight the benefits of existing co-operation on security including joint terror operations and the fast-track extradition of terror suspects and serious criminals.

In one of her most impassioned interventions on Brexit, she will say: "People across Europe are safer because of this co-operation and the unique arrangements we have developed between the UK and EU institutions in recent years.

"So it is in all our interests to find ways to protect the capabilities which underpin this co-operation when the UK becomes a European country outside the EU but in a new partnership with it. 

"To make this happen will require real political will on both sides. If the priority in the negotiations becomes avoiding any kind of new co-operation with a country outside the EU, then this political doctrine and ideology will have damaging real world consequences for the security of all our people, in the UK and the EU. As leaders, we cannot let that happen."

She will say that the enemies of Britain and the European Union would like "nothing more than to see us fractured". "So let our message ring out loud and clear today," she will say. "We will not let that happen.  We will keep our people safe, now and in the years to come."

It came after Alex Younger, the head of MI6, Bruno Kahl of Germany’s BND and Bernard Emie of France’s DGSE issued a joint statement calling for cooperation. The trio were also publicly photographed for the first time. 

The European Commission believes that Britain should lose automatic access to Europol and Passenger Name Records for flights after Brexit.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, said he agreed that security co-operation is crucial but warned that Britain will also have to back down over red lines such as EU laws after Brexit.

In a joint press conference with Mrs May in Berlin yesterday, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said Germany deplores Brexit but wants relations between Britain and the EU to be "as close as possible".

Mrs Merkel denied she was “frustrated” by the Prime Minister’s approach to the Brexit negotiations, saying that she was "curious" instead.