UK opts in to the EIO - Onwards towards Tyranny!

The Hansard report on this disastrous decision is linked here. I quote below the unanswered points made by one Conservative and one Labour MP to the Home Secretary's ludicrous statement: Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Many of us were elected on a programme of no more powers whatever passing to the European Union. Given that the Home Secretary promised us that no sovereignty would be transferred by the EIO, will she reassure us of that by putting into the draft proposal a simple clause that says that Britain can withdraw from the arrangement at any time if it proves to be not as advertised? If we have that clause, we are sovereign; if we do not have it, we are not sovereign. [ Interruption. ]

Mrs May: I thank the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) for that sedentary intervention.

I did make that statement on sovereignty in relation to the EIO. We are opting in to the draft directive, over which there will be negotiations in the coming months. However, I said what I said because the order and the directive are not about sovereignty moving to Europe, but about making a practical step of co-operation to ensure that it will be easier for us not only to fight crime, but crucially, to ensure that justice is done.

Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab): I am disappointed but not surprised by the Government's decision to opt in to the EIO. I was a Home Office Minister some years ago, and even then officials tried push all kinds of things by which more power was taken away from this country. Following the Secretary of State's previous answer, is she saying-let us let the public know the truth-that once we opt in, no matter how much we find that it is not working in our interest or that it is costing huge amounts of money, there is absolutely nothing we can do?

The Open Europe Blog has more on this topic and is linked from here.