A British spy chief has spoken out among ongoing Brexit talks, revealing UK intelligence helped foil terror plots across the bloc last year, as hardline Brussels bureaucrats move to cut off Britain despite the clear advantage of high-quality British intelligence to European security.

Jeremy Fleming, director of the UK’s surveillance agency GCHQ, explained how the British had supplied information that helped break up potentially deadly plots in four separate European Union (EU) countries in just 12 months.

Other member states had benefited “from our work together on our collective security”, he added, saying he was confident that this important work would continue after Brexit.

Speaking after meetings at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, Mr Fleming said: “This visit comes at a pivotal time of course as the UK leaves the EU and as we agree a treaty on security to ensure that the UK and EU member states continue to work together to keep us all secure in the future.

“We’re leaving the EU but not Europe. And after Brexit, the UK will continue to work with the EU and the EU member states. We have excellent relationships with intelligence and security agencies right across the continent.

France Risking British Security by ‘Blocking’ Access to Terror Data After Brexit https://t.co/shoyHvL0qu — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 31, 2018

“For example, in the last year, we’ve played a critical role in the disruption of terrorist operations in at least four European countries.

“Those relationships, and our ability to work together, save lives. That will continue after Brexit, for the benefit of the UK and for Europe.”

Despite Mr Fleming’s suggestion that lives could be put at risk, and warnings from other counter-terrorism chiefs about breaking intelligence ties, the unelected European Commission has repeatedly said this will be the case.

Describing the UK as a “third country”, they say Britain will not maintain the same level of access as it has at present to information-sharing programmes such as EU-wide fingerprint and criminal intelligence databases.

The UK is also currently fighting EU bosses who want to block Britain’s armed forces from accessing resources such as the EU satellite surveillance system Galileo – which the UK played a central roll in developing and funding – after Brexit.