Far-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used his response to the Queen’s Speech in the House of Commons to praise the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) he once fiercely opposed, particularly when it was used against Julian Assange.
Mr Corbyn claimed that the European Arrest Warrant — really an EU-wide extradition treaty, which requires EU member-states to hand over suspects wanted in other EU member-states with little need for them to prove to domestic courts that there is satisfactory case against them — was an important tool for protecting public safety which could be lost after Brexit.
But the 70-year-old socialist, who famously voted to leave the European Economic Community, as the EU then was, in the 1970s, and opposed every European treaty increasing the bloc’s powers during his time as a backbencher, appears to have been far less supportive of the European Arrest Warrant before he became Labour leader.
Speaking against its use against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the House of Commons in 2013, Corbyn said to parliamentary colleagues: “[L]et me briefly quote Debra Sheehan, who has been campaigning for Mr Assange not to be extradited to Sweden: ‘I believe this ruling’ — the ruling that [Assange] can be extradited — ‘sets a very dangerous precedent allowing any UK citizen — and possibly any European citizen — to be extradited without charge. Mr Assange’s case shows that the European arrest warrant can be used in a totally disproportionate way…'” Breitbart.
