Brexit: UK negotiator denies claims the government is blackmailing the EU on trade

Britain’s chief negotiator in the country’s divorce from the European Union on Thursday rejected suggestions the U.K. has threatened to end security co-operation unless it gets the trade deal it wants.

David Davis said Prime Minister Theresa May’s letter triggering talks on Britain’s departure made clear Britain wants to continue to work with the EU on a range of issues, including security, for both sides.

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“We want a deal, and she was making the point that it’s bad for both of us if we don’t have a deal,” Davis told the BBC.

“Now that, I think, is a perfectly reasonable point to make and not in any sense a threat.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Now that, I think, is a perfectly reasonable point to make and not in any sense a threat."

May’s six-page letter triggering two years of divorce negotiations makes 11 references to security, and said that without a good deal, “our co-operation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened.”

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1:51 Britain’s May officially triggers Brexit

The tabloid Sun was in no doubt about what May meant: “Your money or your lives,” was its front-page headline Thursday, along with the words “PM’s Brexit threat to EU.”

Britain is a European security powerhouse – one of only two nuclear powers in the bloc and with some of the world’s most capable intelligence services.

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May said Wednesday that Britain will probably have to leave the EU police agency, Europol, after Brexit but wants to “maintain the degree of co-operation on these matters that we have currently.”

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, whose responsibilities include intelligence and security, also denied there was a threat, but told Sky News: “If we left Europol, then we would take our information … with us. The fact is, the European partners want to keep our information.”

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1:14 Tens of thousands march to U.K. parliament against Brexit

Senior European leaders responded positively to the warm overall tone of May’s letter – but they could not miss the steely undertone.

“I find the letter of Mrs. May very constructive generally, but there is also one threat in it,” said European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhoftstadt, saying May seemed to be demanding a good trade deal in exchange for continued security co-operation.

“It doesn’t work like that,” he told Sky News. “You cannot abuse the security of citizens to have then a good deal on something else.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It doesn't work like that," he told Sky News. "You cannot abuse the security of citizens to have then a good deal on something else."

A day after triggering its EU exit process, the British government was outlining on Thursday how it intends to convert thousands of EU rules into British law when it leaves the bloc in 2019.

The government is publishing details of a Great Repeal Bill that will transform existing EU laws into British statute so that “the same rules will apply after exit day” as before.

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Opposition lawmakers are unhappy at plans to give government ministers power to change some laws without votes in Parliament.

They call that a government power grab. But the government says the authority would only be used to make “mechanical changes” so laws can be applied smoothly. It says Parliament will be able to scrutinize all “substantive policy changes,” including new customs and immigration laws.