Clegg: International approach needed to security problems

The UK must remain a "full and committed" member of the European Union to fully tackle the security threats it faces, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg believes.

Responding to prime minister Gordon Brown's statement on the new national security strategy in the Commons, Mr Clegg said the strategy should be the "beginning rather than the end" of the policy-forming process on the issue.

He noted Mr Brown placed the EU third behind Nato and the US as the "crucial forum by which many of the collective security threats will be addressed" and emphasised the importance of "safety in numbers" offered by a Eurocentric approach.

"It seems to me what we've seen is an assessment of what the threats are but not quite yet a strategic overview of how those threats will be tackled," he commented.

Mr Clegg finished by warning of the dangers of increasing policing and intelligence services' powers.

"Security and liberty are two sides of the same coin – we should never be forced to accept a trade-off from one in favour of the other."