The Home Secretary has also vowed to beef up security at Britain’s borders as part of her long-awaited crackdown on illegal immigration. Mr Patel insisted Britain will be a safer country to live in now it has left the European Union.
She said she was prepared to give policing and security agencies “even tougher powers to keep this country safe” now the UK is outside the jurisdiction of the EU.
And she said Britain would once again be able to control who entered the country.
Brussels had warned Brexit would harm UK security as it spelled the end of Britain’s membership of Europol, Eurojust, the European Arrest Warrant and real-time sensitive data-sharing agreements such as the Schengen Information System.
The EU made it clear the UK would not enjoy the same level of “facilities” on policing and security issues as before.
An EU briefing note said the UK would no longer have “direct, real-time access” to sensitive databases covering freedom, security and justice.”
But Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade and security deal, hammered out as the clock ticked down to withdrawal from the bloc, does allow for “effective co-operation” between the UK and the Europol and Eurojust policing and criminal justice agencies, in line with the rules for third countries under EU law.
And a defiant Ms Patel insisted the UK’s departure from the EU on New Year’s Eve “gives our police and security services the tools and partnerships to help keep the public safe”.
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Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, she said: “And having left the EU means we can give these agencies stronger powers to keep this country safe.
“That includes banning foreign criminals who have served more than a year in jail from entering the UK.
“We will refuse to accept insecure national identity cards and we will be able to crack down on illegal imports of goods through the introduction of prearrival data on goods being imported from the EU.
“We will also crack down on illegal immigration and reform the broken asylum system.”
Attorney General Suella Braverman said Brexit would also have a positive impact on the UK’s legal system.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, she said: “The jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union will no longer take precedence in the UK’s higher courts.
“This reflects a seismic shift – which will become apparent over time – in our law-making.
“The thousands of judgments handed down by the Luxembourg court every year – interpreting EU laws, determining questions on regulations in areas as varied as competition, health and safety, manufacturing and the environment – will no longer bind our judges at home.”
