Government Abandons British

First, under the EU arrest warrant, the UK government has allowed other EU countries to arrest, remove from the UK, and then try, people alleged to have committed acts which are perfectly legal under UK law.

Now the UK government favours the introduction of an EU evidence warrant, which will allow other EU states forcibly to enter and search British homes and property seeking evidence with a view to the criminal prosecution of acts which could not be crimes in the UK.

In other words, to make legal the execution by a foreign power of search warrants which could not be legally obtained by the British government or justice system.

The British are being abandoned by their own government in their own country.

To be tried in a foreign state, where the law, procedures, and language differ from one's own, and foreigners may viewed with prejudice, is a serious matter. That is why extradition to a foreign state has traditionally been subject to many restrictions and safeguards. These safeguards have already been watered down by the Extradition Act 2003 which introduced the EU arrest warrant, extended extradition to a wide range of relatively trivial offences, and removed the principle of dual criminality, while reducing further the countries required to show a prima facie case.

By failing to uphold established principles of legal jurisdiction and extradition, the Crown is failing to protect its subjects from arbitrary and unjust interference in their lives. Traditional considerations of justice and good government are being sacrificed for administrative convenience and political ingratiation.

Who are the masters now?