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Gibraltar's sovereignty is not on the table in talks with Spain and the EU, Fabian Picardo has insisted – with the Rock’s Chief Minister saying negotiations are now so advanced that “we can see the finish line”. Meanwhile Europe Minister Stephen Doughty has insisted the UK will never sign up for a deal which does not protect Gibraltar’s status as a British overseas territory.
Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Picardo said: “We are not dealing with the issue of sovereignty.” He said: “In fact, successive Spanish foreign ministers – Senor Dastis of the Partido Popular, Señor Borrel of the Socialist Party, Ms Laya of the Socialist Party and now Mr Albares – have repeatedly said that the issue of sovereignty is not on the table in relation to this discussion.” He added: “When he is talking yesterday to Nick [Watt] on Newsnight about the issue of Gibraltar, he's talking about the issues in the trade deal and in the immigration deal that we've been working so hard on over almost five years now.”
He described the negotiation as “very nuanced” and said: “We can now see the finish posts.”
Reminded that he had previously described being “within kissing distance” of a deal, Mr Picardo added: “This is a smooch and a half, isn’t it?
“It’s a long marathon. Believe me, when I started this, I weighed 110 kilos. Now I weigh 80 and I run 10 kilometres a day. So I'm starting to learn how difficult it is to run a marathon.”
“And I think we've now entered the stadium.”
He said: “We can see the finish line, and with the help of successive UK governments of blue and red complexions, we will get there in a deal that is good for the people of Gibraltar, who I represent and matter the most to me, and of course the people of the United Kingdom and the people of Europe – in particular the people of Spain and the area around Gibraltar in the Campo de Gibraltar.”
Mr Picardo said Brexit had caused significant disruption but Gibraltar was determined to make the best of the situation.
He said: “They describe it with a pejorative term that is followed by the word ‘show’, and that is what Brexit has meant to Gibraltar for the last decade, since 2016, when we've had to deal with the issues of Brexit.”
“But we're British. We voted in the Brexit referendum. We accept, of course, the overwhelming view of the British people.”
“In this instance, it was to leave the European Union – not by a massive margin, but by enough that the referendum issue was resolved.”
“And so we have to deal with the consequences and make the most of them.”
On the technical complexity of the talks, he said: “Although we're not dealing with sovereignty, we are, of course, dealing with issues which relate to how we can regulate our market in goods, how we can regulate our issues in immigration.”
He added: “When you're going to form part of a much larger club, you have to change the way that you do things and you have to change it in a way that is going to continue to enable you to succeed economically and is going to enable you to have those controls that you want to have on immigration.”
He stressed: “It’s a difficult negotiation because it's technically difficult – not because there are sovereignty issues in play, which are the issues that have always raised their head on Gibraltar.”
Mr Picardo also emphasised that Gibraltarians backed a tough stance.
He said: “They tell me never to give up and don’t give anything that matters up. And that’s the mantra that we’ve been pursuing.”
He added: “We've got an electoral mandate to pursue that and I think we're going to get there.”
Looking ahead to the next generation, he said: “I think of my children a lot when the going gets tough in these situations. I want them to be able to access the European Union. I want them to be able to ski in Spain and surf in Spain. I want them to be able to travel to Paris, go to Rome – all the things we used to be able to enjoy as European citizens – and this deal will give them again in different measure.”
Mr Picardo’s remarks followed a BBC Newsnight interview in which Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the Gibraltar issue “is not resolved yet” – triggering concerns in Westminster that Spain might be raising sovereignty just days before a planned UK-EU reset.
But speaking in the Commons, Europe Minister Stephen Doughty rejected that suggestion and offered a clear assurance on the UK Government’s position.
He said: “We will only conclude an agreement that protects sovereignty and UK military autonomy, and provides certainty for the people of Gibraltar and secures their future prosperity.”
He added: “Well, [Martin Vickers] can be absolutely assured on that latter point. In fact, I spoke to the Chief Minister of Gibraltar just this morning.”
“We’ve been working closely with him and indeed with our EU and Spanish counterparts.”
He said: “All sides agree on the importance of concluding a treaty as soon as possible, and we're working closely with all the parties in that regard.”
“And we will endeavour to achieve that in due course.”
Former DUP leader Baroness Arlene Foster, who appeared on the Newsnight panel, praised the UK-Gibraltar relationship.
She said: “They are in the middle of it and they're saying that they won't give way on the fundamentals, which of course is sovereignty.”
“They're not going to rush it.”
“They’re just going to take their time and get the right deal – and I think that’s absolutely the right thing to do.”
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