National interests should be of no interest to the EU, says MEP

The UK should do “everything necessary” to block the European Parliament from investigating work done by GCHQ, said local MEP Paul Nuttall.

It was revealed in documents leaked by Edward Snowden, former American intelligence worker, that the Government Communications Head Quarters, the primary UK spy agency, has allegedly hacked into a Belgian telecom firm, whose clients include the EU offices in Brussels.

“I think it’s vital that the UK says 'absolutely not' to the European Parliament's demands to probe the work of GCHQ," said Mr Nuttall, UKIP deputy leader.

"What the UK chooses to investigate in the interests of national security is private to the country and certainly should not be pored over by an undemocratic and certainly megalomaniac supranational organisation that repeatedly puts its own priorities and ideologies far above the best interests of people in the 28 member states.

“The EU does not have the right to investigate GCHQ. Any intrusion into highly confidential information of national security opens the UK up to serious breaches. The Prime Minister must be absolutely steadfast and clear on this. National interests are national interest and certainly should be of no interest to the EU.”