Safer out of the EU: Sir Richard Dearlove

The former head of MI6 yesterday demolished the security case for staying in the EU – saying Britain could be safer out.

Sir Richard Dearlove said Brexit would make it easier to deport terrorists and control our borders.

He added that Europe could not turn its back on Britain if it left the EU because our intelligence services ‘give much more’ than they get in return.

In any event, Washington was a more important counter-terror ally, he said.

The former spy chief also dismissed suggestions that Brexit would harm our relationship with the US and likened the EU’s various intelligence bodies to the ‘leakiest ships of state’ and colanders riddled with holes.

David Cameron and other senior ministers have relied heavily on claims that Britain is more secure inside the Brussels club because of measures like the European arrest warrant. But, in a devastating intervention, Sir Richard said: ‘Few would notice its passing.’

His assessment was backed by a government minister and London Mayor Boris Johnson – who warned EU judges were making it harder to throw out fanatics.

Sir Richard, who was chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, wrote in the current affairs magazine Prospect: ‘Whether one is an enthusiastic European or not, the truth about Brexit from a national security perspective is that the cost to Britain would be low.

‘Brexit would bring two potentially important security gains: the ability to dump the European Convention on Human Rights – remember the difficulty of extraditing the extremist Abu Hamza of the Finsbury Park Mosque – and, more importantly, greater control over immigration from the European Union.’ He adds: ‘Britain is Europe’s leader in intelligence and security matters and gives much more than it gets in return.