Hostile Brexit debate encouraging far-right, says anti-terror chief
The increasingly hostile Brexit debate surrounding Brexit was encouraging the rise of far right activists, the head of UK counter-terrorism policing warned on Wednesday.
Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu also said a no-deal departure from the European Union would damage security co-operation.
“Criminality does not respect borders … and if you can’t share intelligence on people who are travelling across your border who may be a threat to your country or may be travelling to other countries as a threat, those things are a significant diminution of our security,” he told the BBC in a round of media interviews.
“We already have bilateral relationships with a lot of countries to share intelligence, but there is no doubt about it, a no-deal Brexit would not be good for security for this country or for Europe.”
Basu had earlier told ITV that he wasn't making “a political point” but stating a “factual requirement between security services and policing and my counterparts in Europe and our need to share information”.
“It is self evident that the inability to share data, to share intelligence, to share biometric information, with key partners … would be incredibly damaging for wider policing and for counter-terrorism, so yes it is a real concern.”
Basu said the 2016 referendum result had seen more instances of hate crimes.
“My concern is that this is a very divisive issue … It has polarised a lot of families, a lot of communities and we are appealing for calm, reflection and debate,” he said.
“We will absolutely support any kind of lawful protest but where it veers into the unlawful territory we will and must take action.”
Anti-Brexit MP Anna Soubry and journalists have been repeatedly abused outside parliament. The Conservative politician was filmed by her tormentors, who called her a “traitor”, among other things, while police officers stood by and did not intervene, something Basu admitted should not have happened.
“There are a lot of politicians that feel very vulnerable. It cannot be right that someone going about their lawful business is either intimidated or obstructed from doing so.”
“There is no doubt that the community policing that we put in place wasn’t assertive enough to stop people who were intent on being intimidating. We are determined to get that right and make politicians feel as safe as they can.”