As the Brexit negotiations reach the last days, I questioned Michael Gove this morning over an aspect of the talks which he’s been keen to avoid – security cooperation and access to European databases which contain live information on the movements of serious criminals.

The previous Prime Minister, Theresa May, was incredulous when Gove previously told her last month that without access to previously shared databases the UK could act “more effectively to safeguard our borders outside the European Union than we ever could inside.”

I put this to Michael Gove, and asked him how, without access to these vital systems, which are checked a billion times a year, we will receive real-time data on foreign criminals at the point of entry to UK ports and airports. He couldn’t answer the question. Nor could Home Office Minister Kevin Foster at the Home Affairs Select Committee.

The President of the Police Superintendents’ Association has said that without this access, information sharing will be less effective, and highlighted his “concern about the implications on policing and security”.

When I pressed Michael Gove on this,  yet again he dodged the question and could not tell me how police and border force would get this vital information. This incompetent and reckless approach to national security is unacceptable.

Watch the full exchange below: