Lords quiz Home Secretary and Lord Chancellor in reopened inquiry into UKs 2014 opt-out decision
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, and Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, will face questions from two Lords Committees on the UK's 2014 opt-out from EU police and criminal justice measures on Wednesday 9 October, as part of a reopened inquiry.
On 9 July, the Government published a list of the 35 measures that the Government would seek to rejoin should the opt-out be exercised and announced a framework for votes in both Houses of Parliament to take place. Following those votes, the two EU Sub-Committee which conducted the original inquiry decided to reopen it to further scrutinise these developments.
Questions the Home Secretary and Lord Chancellor are likely to face include:
- How did you define “the national interest” in selecting the 35 measures which the UK will seek to rejoin and those it will not?
- Will UK non-participation in some of these measures, for example on xenophobia and racism, not send an unfortunate signal to other Member States that the UK does not regard those issues as important and possibly lead to a loss of influence in those areas?
- How do you respond to questions raised about the coherence of seeking to rejoin the decision establishing Europol, but not related implementing measures?
- Are you confident that the domestic reforms to the implementation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) won't break the UK's obligations under the Treaties and the EAW Framework Decision?
The evidence session will take place on Wednesday 9 October at 1.30pm in Committee Room 4A.