Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to Iain Duncan Smith’s comments on security and terrorism, said:

“These are highly irresponsible comments for a senior Cabinet Minister to make and inaccurate to boot. It raises the question of whether ministers campaigning for Brexit can realistically remain within the Cabinet if the statements they are making are so fundamentally at odds with settled Government policy. 

“As Iain Duncan Smith well knows, the UK opted out of the Schengen open borders agreement and therefore retains control over who comes in and out of the country, and even the Prime Minister and Home Secretary said yesterday that our membership of the EU brings real benefits in terms of security cooperation. 

“The sharing of information helps us better protect our country and, as somebody who was in the Home Office on July 7th and 21st 2005, I saw first-hand how the European Arrest Warrant stopped terrorists evading justice. 

"These misleading comments are not worthy of a senior Cabinet Minister and demean what needs to be a serious debate about our country’s future.”