Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants more co-operation with institutions such as Nato and the European Union on justice and security.
The Prime Minister said now was a time for more rather than less working together with bodies such as the United Nations, as she vowed to take a global outlook after Brexit.
Former shadow minister Barry Sheerman told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions there were "dark clouds looming on the horizon" for these three major organisations, which he said had helped keep the peace since the Second World War.
Read more: Theresa May's 'Little Britain Brexit' will hit jobs and pay, say SNP
In reply, Mrs May said: "I absolutely recognise the important issue that he has raised in this area.
"It is precisely as we move out of the European Union, the United Kingdom will be more outward looking.
"We will be looking globally, we want to ensure that we continue to play our part in the United Nations, that the United Nations itself is able to do the job that everybody wants it to do."
She added: "Obviously Nato has been the most important bulwark in terms of maintaining the safety and security across the European continent.
"That is why we are continuing to support Nato and indeed British troops are in Estonia, there's British forces in Poland, in Romania, continuing to show our commitment to Nato.
Read more: Theresa May's 'Little Britain Brexit' will hit jobs and pay, say SNP
"The thrust of my speech yesterday was that we want a strong, strategic partnership with the European Union, we want that access to the single market, that free trade agreement.
"But we also want to continue to work with them on justice and security matters, because now is not a time to co-operate less, it's a time to co-operate more."
The former home secretary is said to have a positive view of collaboration on security issues, and she decided to opt in to new Europol rules in November despite the Brexit vote.
Mr Sheerman asked the Prime Minister: "Is she aware there are dark clouds looming on the horizon, in terms of intolerance, racism across Europe, and the floundering and the flux of many of our great institutions that have kept peace and prosperity since the last World War.
Read more: Theresa May's 'Little Britain Brexit' will hit jobs and pay, say SNP
"I speak here of the United Nations, of Nato, and indeed the European Union.
"Are we fit for purpose in keeping this country safe and secure in that way?"
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel