Government Releases 2018 Brexit Report Labelling Illegal Migration as Threat to UK Security

The government released a report a few days ago outlining the government’s intention for organising the Brexit deal.

A similar report, released a year previously only included one point regarding national cyber security, or the wider cyber security industry as a consideration during finding an accord with the EU over Brexit:

“11.5 Our commitment to cooperation on cyber security with our European and global allies will be undiminished and we will continue to work closely with international partners to build capability in countering cyber threats and to ensure the continuation of a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace.”

The 2018 report does more to demystify exactly what work is intended to work with international partners to counter cyber threats.

The first of which references the “Security Partnership” reflecting a sentiment that the EU and UK’s security are still to be considered mutually exclusive, and that “the Government has made an unconditional commitment to maintain” security throughout our country and wider Europe to maintain public safety.

How is this to be done? Via cooperation. What are they referring to as a threat against security? Illegal migration, amongst other things:

The Government intends on “taking a ‘whole of route’ approach to tackle the causes of illegal migration, establishing a strategic dialogue on cyber security, putting in place a framework to support cooperation on counter-terrorism, offering support and expertise on civil protection and working together on health security.”

Additionally, the report pushes ahead asking that the EU commits to shared vision and partnership to address terrorism (both in terms of root causes and intent), organised crime, migration challenges, provision of development funding across the world, and the use of data in a range of contexts.  The UK government is pledging to work on these issues in conjunction with the EU as part of an –

“Ongoing cooperation through partnership programmes and key safeguards such as individual rights, data protection and robust governance arrangements, to underpin the trust which is essential to such a close relationship”.

Commenting specifically on cyber crime the report pitches a key part of the Security Partnership comes in collaborating to combat the threats that both the UK and EU face. With honesty the report brings attention to the increasing international threats from cyber enabled crime: “malicious cyber activity knows no international boundaries and has grown in terms of intensity, complexity and severity over the course of the last year”.

You can read the full report here: The Future Relationship between the UK and the EU