EU directive opt-out ‘could hit Britons arrested abroad’

Condemning the government's decision, Catherine Heard, the head of policy at Fair Trials International, said: "About a third of our clients facing charges in other EU countries complain about poor access to legal advice.

"The government has said it's committed to ensuring stronger EU-wide safeguards for basic fair trial rights. They should be putting their weight behind this law, not opting out of it.

"If we don't work together with other EU countries to protect our citizens' defence rights, we risk further cases of injustice as we extradite more and more people on a 'no questions asked' basis to face trial in other EU countries."