Press

The Centre for European Reform tweeted that its director of foreign policy, Ian Bond, told the BBC that the interview could have intended to “cause confusion, put smoke out there to obscure the battlefield.” He pointed to the fact that some find it believable that the suspects were indeed a gay couple going on vacation in Salisbury as evidence that such distractions can be effective.

En ledarstrid skulle öka sannolikheten för en brexit utan avtal, tror Christian Odendahl, chefsekonom på tankesmedjan Centre for European Reform i London.”Det är redan svårt för EU att gå med på Chequersplanen. Att gå med på något som de hårda brexitörerna planerar är ännu svårare.”

Several economists have already criticised the report on social media, with senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, Sam Lowe bluntly saying: “Anyone involved in the writing or promoting of this report should be ashamed of themselves. They have actively contributed to making the Brexit debate less informed.”

“It’s certainly an extremely useful instrument,” says Camino Mortera, an expert on justice and home affairs at the Centre for European Reform. “Once an EAW is issued, there can be no review of the case by local judges in another EU state if it falls within a list of 32 offences. There is a 48-day time limit for arrest, and extradition is automatic.”However, Ms Mortera says Britain will definitely have to leave the EAW after Brexit. “Many EU states have a constitutional ban on extraditing their own nationals outside the EU. So to accommodate the British, they would have to change their constitutions and, in some cases, hold a referendum. That isn’t going to happen.”