Sajid Javid has accused the European Commission of putting the safety of its citizens at risk from terrorism with its Brexit negotiating stance.
The home secretary said it was “wrong and reckless” for Brussels to suggest UK-EU security cooperation would be weakened once Britain leaves the EU.
“We are as committed as ever to European security. We want and we need a deep and special security partnership with the EU after we leave - and the EU needs it too,” he said in a speech on Monday morning.
“When the British people voted to leave the EU they were not voting for us to stop working with our European allies to keep everyone safe.”
Javid also claimed European Commission was at odds with individual member states in its approach.
“There is not a single European interior minister who wants to reduce the level of cooperation on security that we have now,” he said.
“It would be be wrong and reckless for anyone to advocate any unnecessary reduction in this cooperation.”
Having specified he was taking aim at the European Commission, Javid said the UK and EU “would all lose” out in the fight against terrorism if the security relationship did not remain the same.
Javid made the comments as he unveiled the government’s new blueprint for tackling terror.
MI5 intelligence will be shared with bodies outside the security community in a drive to stop terror suspects before attack plots can crystallise.
In a major shift, MI5 will declassify information on individuals who have appeared on its radar – but are not currently under active investigation.
Details could be passed to bodies such as councils, local police or government departments, who will work alongside intelligence agencies to determine the best course of action to manage the risk.