Vote Liberal Democrat in the European Elections on June 4th

• Introduction
• Jobs
• The EU
• Crime
• Environment
• Defence and world trade

It will make Britain safer if the UK takes part in common European action to tackle cross-border crime such as paedophile networks, cyber-crime, human trafficking, money laundering, drug smuggling and gun-running. It makes sense for European countries to pull together to cut crime and tackle terrorism. The EU can succeed where individual countries acting alone cannot.

The Conservatives and UKIP have consistently opposed measures that help European police forces and judicial authorities to co-operate in investigations into child abuse, human trafficking and cross border crime. If Britain becomes isolated in Europe, or the Conservatives and UKIP succeed in blocking cross-border co-operation on crime and terrorism, they will put British in danger.

Liberal Democrats believe that fighting crime and terrorism, whether through action at home or in Brussels, does not mean we should compromise our traditional legal system and civil liberties or create a surveillance state.

Labour has systematically undermined our cherished freedoms and has tried to get agreements in Europe to do the same things across the EU, for example agreements for mass databases and email and phone surveillance

In Europe, Liberal Democrats MEPs have a proud record of standing up for civil liberties. In the UK, Liberal Democrats would introduce a Freedom Bill to restore and protect our most important liberties.

Liberal Democrats will work to:

• Catch Criminals and Terrorists. Our MEPs support action that helps greater co-operation between police forces. Cracking paedophile rings and freeing women who have been shipped to other countries and forced into prostitution, requires co-ordinated European action. We support the European Arrest Warrant that helps Britain bring back suspects swiftly to face justice in this country rather than wait for the old lengthy extradition procedure.
   
• Ensure Fair Treatment Abroad. We will fight to make sure that if you are arrested in another EU country you will have the right to a lawyer, legal aid and an interpreter.
   
• Protect Privacy and Human Rights. We need guaranteed privacy safeguards on access to databases by police and intelligence agencies, including when access is given to non-EU countries such as the US.

More detail

There is more information on Liberal Democrat policies on crime and liberties in our full manifesto.