Liverpool's 'entrepreneurial' criminal gangs could receive a major boost if the UK tumbles out of the European Union without a Brexit deal.
Speaking yesterday, Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Jane Kennedy said any increased difficulty in cooperating with European nations about organised crime could have consequences for crime fighting efforts in Merseyside .
Ms Kennedy, who today announced that she wouldn't seek reelection next year , said the region had some of the "most entrepreneurial serious organised crime groups".
She said: "They operate at a local, regional, national and international level."
"I think it is fair to say if there is a no deal Brexit and we have to go back to old ways of communicating internationally that will cause some problems."
But she said Merseyside Police "are working hard to overcome" potential challenges if that situation were to arise.
Prime Minister Theresa May's efforts to pass a Brexit deal have so far been unsuccessful.
The deal agreed by the PM with European leaders was rejected last year in the largest ever Commons defeat for a sitting government.
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Mrs May is now trying to secure changes to the deal from the EU in an effort to pass the deal through parliament and have it in place before the UK is due to leave at the end of next month.
And the prime minister's working majority in parliament was reduced further today after three Conservative MPs left the party to join a Labour breakaway group.
