A FORMER police officer with the Devon and Cornwall force has condemned a government decision to hand over power to police throughout the European Union.

Trevor Colman, who now sits as a South West MEP for UKIP, said it was disgraceful that Home Secretary Theresa May had committed Britain to a European Investigation Order without it being debated in Parliament.

He said: “This is a very real and very basic threat to our civil liberties as it allows European police forces to demand action from our own police.

“This order gives them the right to intercept mail and telephone records, monitor bank accounts as well as having the right to demand fingerprints and DNA samples.”

He said it would be an extra strain on ‘already overloaded’ officers in the South West.