HUGH Bayley MP highlights why it is important there is for a vote to endorse the European Arrest Warrant as soon as possible.

THERE was a fearful row in Parliament on Monday. The Prime Minister had promised that MPs would get to vote on whether Britain should opt out of the European Arrest Warrant, but when the Home Secretary brought the legislation to the Commons the clause about the arrest warrant had disappeared.

The government was scared that Conservative Eurosceptics would vote it down.

The row is now common knowledge, but what is the European Arrest Warrant all about?

It was approved by the Labour government to bring back to Britain much more quickly people who have fled the country to avoid arrest for serious crimes, such as murder, rape and sex offences against children – and to return to other countries people who have fled to Britain to escape arrest and trial for similar offences in other European countries.

Has it worked? Yes. In the last four years it has brought 36 suspected murderers, 34 rapists and 66 child sex offenders back to Britain to stand trial.

And the European Arrest Warrant has been used to deport 76 people from Britain to other European countries to stand trial for murder, 65 for rape and 110 for child sex offences.

Any right-minded person would support this. North Yorkshire Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan wrote to ask me to vote for the European Arrest Warrant.

She is right to support it and I would have voted for it if the government had put the question.

So why do so many Tory MPs oppose it? Some don’t like European agreements of any kind. Some don’t trust courts in other European countries to treat British citizens fairly when charged with serious crimes.

To be fair, there have been a handful of cases where UK citizens appear to have been treated badly – but the answer, surely, is to take up these individual cases, not to abandon the whole system.

To be equally honest, there are sometimes miscarriages of justice here in Britain. But you would not stop bringing murderers to trial because , in a single case, you found that someone was wrongly convicted in a single case.

I will be pressing for a vote to endorse the European Arrest Warrant as soon as possible.

The issue is too serious to duck. We need to bring murderers, rapists and child sex offenders to justice in Britain, and to deport criminals from Britain to stand trial elsewhere.

We have also been debating the government’s Recall of MPs Bill. This proposes that an MP found guilty of “serious wrongdoing” (defined as being sentenced to prison or banned from the House of Commons for over 21 days) would face a by-election if 10 per cent of constituents sign a recall petition.

I support the right to recall where an MP has been involved in serious misconduct because this would provide greater accountability and empower constituents.

It would increase public engagement in politics and help restore trust in Parliament.

Almost 300 constituents wrote to me to say the government’s Bill is not strong enough and I agree with them.

The Government’s definition of the level of misconduct necessary to trigger a recall ballot is too restrictive.

It would have done nothing to hold to account MPs who took cash for questions in the 1990s.

I supported amendments tabled by Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith for a real power of recall.

I voted for a system where the public could recall an MP even when not guilty of serious misconduct. 166 MPs, including me, supported Zac Goldsmith’s amendment. Sadly, 340 MPs voted against and so it was defeated.

Labour have long supported recall legislation and have tabled amendments to strengthen the government’s Bill.

These would reduce the number of days of suspension from the House which would trigger the recall process and widen the scope of offences.

I hope these important additions will be passed during the Bill’s report stage.

We need a recall law that puts real power in the hands of voters.