Forum Topic

Police failure to warn EU about foreign criminals

Brexiteers are always whining about the supposed influx of EU criminals flooding here, but rhe truth, as usual with these claims, is the opposite:"Police hid a computer blunder that meant details of 75,000 convictions of European Union nationals were not passed to their home countries.The error was concealed because of fears in the Home Office that it would damage Britain’s reputation for security.A problem with the police national computer went undetected for five years, during which tens of thousands of alerts on EU citizens convicted in Britain, including for serious violent and sexual offences, and the sentences imposed on them were not shared with their countries of origin."https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/police-hid-it-failure-that-prevented-criminal-alerts-mkhkkf8cw

Richard Carter ● 2492d11 Comments

@Richard, the truth (ie The Times article) isn't the opposite of your opening statement.  The opposite would be that EU criminals are NOT flooding here but the article does not state that.

James Petri ● 2492d

A fair point, James, but it's important to state that these are not foreign criminals coming (or 'flooding') here, but EU citizens who have been convicted whilst in the UK. And although 75,000 sounds like (and is) a large number, we don't know what length of time these convictions occurred over. If we did, it might be possible to calculate the relative rates of conviction of UK and EU (ex-UK) citizens. And many of those convicted are said to be of dual nationality, but how many? Without such knowledge, the claim about 'floods' highly questionable.

Richard Carter ● 2492d

Unfortunately I can't read this article as it's behind a paywall but from listening to the reports on the radio (BBC news) I thought the main point was the dishonesty of the home office in attempting to cover this up. Not a good prelude to further UK/EU negotiations, I can't see this going down well with the EU parliament. Why would the EU believe that such a dishonest department would honour any agreement concerning EU citizens post Brexit , particularly when one aslso considers the despicable treatment of the Windrush group?

Michael Ixer ● 2492d

Oh dear. Richard just couldn't post without mentioning Brexit.🙄I fear he'll never get over it lol. 😸To be honest Michael I really don't care what the EU parliament make of it but I am concerned about the 75,000 convictions. Convictions equate to criminals and we have enough of our own without hosting dross from the EU. Just 16 days to Independence Day!🇬🇧

Sue Hammond ● 2492d

The EU seem to be getting their high level briefings ready for the 1st February .,.(Slide sets 10 - 16 Jan '20)https://ec.europa.eu/commission/brexit-negotiations/negotiating-documents-article-50-negotiations-united-kingdom_en

Michael Ixer ● 2490d

Much as many people yearn to believe that we can simply draw a line under membership of the EU, disengagement and the negotiation of a new working relationship with a union of 27 countries is going to take years. With good will on both sides this may not need to be endlessly painful. The tough talking starts on Feb 1st and the first big decision on our side may have to be to balance fishing rights against tariff free market access for our pharmaceutical, auto and aerospace manufacturing. The only good thing is that the whole mess is wholly and completely owned by the party in power and the chief Brexit cheerleader now in No 10. There will be nobody else to blame. The electorate will be watching!

Jonathan Callaway ● 2490d

I'm interested as to how much of this will be completed in eleven months .... two major areas not mentioned by Jonathan are financial services and data protection. From what's been said by Johnson, if he's looking for a "high tech" UK then movement of data between the UK and EU will be a key part of these negotiations. If there isn't close regulatory alignment in this area - and some easy mechanism for arbitration across the UK/EU border once the ECJ has been kicked into touch after 2020 - then this will be problematic. Data pools of EU population health statistics will also be key to R&D by the UK's pharmaceutical industry.

Michael Ixer ● 2490d

"The only good thing is that the whole mess is wholly and completely owned by the party in power and the chief Brexit cheerleader now in No 10. There will be nobody else to blame. The electorate will be watching!"But they will be watching through the lens of the British media.

David Ainsworth ● 2490d

And it's already happening: if you read the Daily Express (an exercise in self-harm I recommend avoiding) it's already clear that whatever goes wrong will be the fault of the EU.

Richard Carter ● 2490d

The Express see the world through a prism all of their own.  I think there was some degree of agreement, even on this forum, that the electorate are capable of making decisions independently of newspaper headlines.  We really must hope so!

Jonathan Callaway ● 2490d

" ... the electorate are capable of making decisions independently of newspaper headlines.  We really must hope so!"The triumph of hope over experience.

David Ainsworth ● 2490d