Pete Wishart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pete Wishart on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussion she has had with Ministers in the Scottish Government on transitional arrangements to cover the potential gap between the UK Government opting out of EU justice measures and negotiating its re-entry into specific measures.

Karen Bradley

The Government is clear that there is no need for there to be an operational gap after 1 December, and is negotiating on that basis. Other Member States support the UK position and are keen for this process to be concluded as swiftly as possible to provide certainty for all involved.

The Government has engaged with the Devolved Administrations throughout this process at Ministerial and official level. The Immigration and Security Minister (James Brokenshire) visited Edinburgh last year, where he met the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill, representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland and the Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC. I plan to visit Edinburgh to discuss this matter further later this year.