The Prime Minister’s Speech In Munich

In response to the Prime Minister’s speech made today in Munich, Julian David, techUK CEO, commented below.

Julian David, CEO at techUK:

“The Prime Minister is right that nothing within the complex Brexit negotiations should be allowed to stand in the way of the security cooperation needed to keep people safe. We need a close partnership to tackle the threats we face, from global terror, to drug trafficking to increasing cyber security challenges.

“Critical to delivering this partnership is securing cross border data sharing between law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies. It is very welcome that the Prime Minister was so clear on the importance of data sharing. Many of the threats we face do not recognise national borders, so it is in the manifest interests of both the UK and the rest of the EU that these agencies are able to share information on threats across borders quickly and efficiently but this requires the UK and EU to develop a robust legal basis for cross-border data exchange between agencies, to replace current frameworks.

“It is also positive that the Prime Minister made reference to the value of future cooperation in EU space programmes. The UK has played a leading role in the development of Galileo and Copernicus programmes but current concerns around security are already making it harder for UK space and satellite businesses to participate. This issue urgently needs to be agreed so that UK scientific expertise can continue to engage with European allies.

“With the clock ticking, urgent consideration must now be given to formulating the kind of partnership the Prime Minister has outlined, in particular  to ensure that data and information can be shared between agencies with a sound legal underpinning. Information sharing with our European allies increases the safety and security of us all.”