Labour threatens to embarrass PM with vote on European arrest warrant

Opposition will trigger debate the day before Rochester by-election unless Government backs down

Theresa May: Angling to minimise a Tory rebellion (Getty)

Labour is preparing to ambush David Cameron on the eve of the Rochester and Strood by-election by giving rebellious Tory MPs a fresh opportunity to defy the Government on the UK's participation in the controversial European arrest warrant (EAW).

The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, Theresa May, have been attempting to minimise the scale of the Tory rebellion on European policing powers by excluding the EAW from tomorrow's debate on the issue.

But Labour warned the Government that unless it backs down and calls a specific vote on the EAW it will trigger its own debate the day before the Rochester by-election.

The move, designed to maximise Tory divisions ahead of the election, comes as Rob Wainwright, the head of Europol, Europe's crime-fighting agency, warns that British police face expulsion from Europe's cross-border intelligence-sharing networks within weeks if the Government does not officially opt back in.