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Theresa May's offer of Brexit deal on security 'not a threat', insists Cabinet minister

Theresa May announces she has triggered Article 50 in the Commons: PA
Theresa May announces she has triggered Article 50 in the Commons: PA

Theresa May’s statement in a letter to the EU that security co-operation could suffer if a post-Brexit trade deal is not agreed was “absolutely not a threat”, a cabinet minister has insisted.

In her letter to European Council president Donald Tusk triggering Article 50, the Prime Minister said that failure to reach a comprehensive settlement would harm collaboration in the fight against crime and terrorism.

Critics have accused her of trying to make a trade-off between security and commerce.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the letter was "utterly scandalous" and a "blatant threat", while Labour's Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Committee, said the PM should not be using security as a "bargaining chip" in the negotiations.

All a 'misunderstanding': Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green (PA)
All a 'misunderstanding': Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green (PA)

But last night Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green argued the growing row over the letter is just a “misunderstanding”.

He told the BBC’s Newsnight that trade and security had been mentioned side by side because they were "all bound up in our membership of the European Union".

"It's absolutely not a threat,” he added.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson supported Mr Green’s view in a column for the Daily Telegraph.

He wrote: "It is our clear desire and intention that we should continue to play a role as one of the indispensable guarantors of peace and stability in our continent.

"We want to continue to work with our counterparts on defence co-operation, intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism, foreign policy co-ordination - and much else besides - on an intergovernmental level.

"At the same time, the PM is right to spell out her vision of a Britain outside the single market - and outside the EU legal order - but able nonetheless to continue the trading relationship that is so important for businesses and consumers both sides of the Channel."

In New York on Wednesday afternoon, Matthew Rycroft, Britain's ambassador to the UN and current president of the Security Council, said he expected the UK to continue to be "completely aligned" on security with the rest of the EU during the Article 50 process.

In a "historic moment from which there can be no turning back", Mrs May set the country on the path to life outside the European Union when she triggered Article 50 on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister immediately ran into resistance from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the European Parliament over her goal of conducting negotiations on Britain's trade relations with Europe at the same time as talks on arrangements for Brexit.

Plans to repatriate more than 40 years of powers back to Westminster will begin immediately with the publication of the details of the Great Repeal Bill.

The white paper will set out how the Government will deal with EU laws that cannot be easily converted.

Secondary legislation, known as statutory instruments, will be used to make technical changes with up to 1,000 pieces expected, nearly as many as MPs and peers usually deal with in an entire parliament.

In Mrs May's letter to Mr Tusk, she set out how it was "necessary to agree the terms of our future partnership alongside those of our withdrawal from the EU".

Mrs May told the BBC's Andrew Neil she wants "everybody to know" what the withdrawal arrangements are and the terms of the future relationship by the end of March 2019, but there "may be a period of implementation" after the UK leaves the EU.