May urged to protect Gibraltar citizens amid suggestions Spain could veto Brexit trade deal

  • Video report by ITV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand

Theresa May has been urged to protect the citizens of Gibraltar after a paragraph in the European Council's guidelines for Brexit negotiations appeared to offer Spain a veto on the territory's future.

The guidelines published by Council president Donald Tusk state that after Brexit, no agreement between the EU and the UK will apply to Gibraltar unless agreed by Madrid.

Spain has a long-standing territorial claim on Gibraltar, which has been held by the UK since 1713 and currently has the status of British Overseas Territory.

Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister in Gibraltar, told ITV News that anyone thinking Gibraltar will "allow its British sovereignty to be in play" is "absolutely and completely deluded".

Any suggestion Madrid might have a say over the status of the self-governing territory, which is home to important UK military bases, is likely to raise concerns among its 30,000 inhabitants.

Gibraltar’s residents voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU in last year’s referendum – 96% wanted to stay – but now they face a future either outside the EU or outside Britain.

The status of Gibraltar is addressed in a single paragraph of Mr Tusk's nine-page document, which states: "After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom."

Commenting on Twitter, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the UK's support for Gibraltar is "rock-like".

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake said the clause showed the government's Brexit strategy was potentially damaging to the future of The Rock.

"Confirmation that Gibraltar's future must be agreed by the UK and Spain shows just how damaging the Government's hard Brexit will be on this strategically-important British territory."

"Theresa May must urgently produce a plan that protects the citizens of Gibraltar, including their businesses and communities.

"Only the Lib Dems are fighting against hard Brexit, and to keep the UK's place in the single market," Mr Brake added.

Conservative MP Bob Neill said: "Gibraltar's friends in the UK will be watching this very carefully. There will be no sell out."

Earlier this week, Senator José Ignacio Landaluce, of the Spanish Foreign Affairs Committee, told ITV News Europe Editor James Mates that the border situation will be one where they “have to take action”.

“The rest of the EU will demand we control the southern border,” he said. “Even if we go easy, I can assure you things will be a great deal more uncomfortable than they are now.”

One of the main factors which makes it such a prize is Gibraltar’s prosperous economy, which has been growing at around 12% a year.

Britain will need to make sacrifices to protect the Rock’s status, but the Government in Gibraltar is optimistic it will not become a major bargaining chip.

The Prime Minister told MPs the UK was clear that Gibraltar was 'covered by our exit negotiations' Credit: PA

Meanwhile Downing Street said Mrs May had made clear the Government was "absolutely steadfast in our support of Gibraltar, its people and its economy" in her Commons statement on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister told MPs the UK was clear that Gibraltar was "covered by our exit negotiations".

"We have been firm in our commitment never to enter arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their wishes, nor to enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content," she said.

The Tory chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Gibraltar, Jack Lopresti, said: "It's predictable that given Spain's previous behaviour, they would try and use Brexit as a fig leaf for troublemaking over the status of Gibraltar.

"It is shameful that the EU have attempted to allow Spain an effective veto over the future of British sovereign territory, flying in the face of the will of the people of Gibraltar.

"The UK Government's position is clear and will stand. There will be no negotiation over the status of Gibraltar."