Gibraltar and a Spaniard in the works

THE border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic is causing major difficulties to achieving any sort of an agreement with the EU over Brexit.

But there is another border which could well prove to be a deal breaker – the one between Gibraltar and Spain.

Brussels is insisting Britain must come to an agreement with Spain over the future of the Rock as a separate issue before any agreement is signed.

Gibraltar is one of Britain’s overseas territories and should therefore be treated as another land border with the EU.

Gibraltar was seeded to the UK in 1713 under the term of the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Government in Madrid wants it back and sees the current political stalemate over Brexit as an ideal opportunity to further its aims.

In a referendum in 2016, the 28,000 Gibraltarians voted by a 96 per cent majority to stay British. Nevertheless, the Spanish Government is making it very clear that if a Brexit deal is achieved, for it to apply to Gibraltar, London will have to do a deal with Madrid separately. It does not take much imagination to realise that Spain could well throw a very large spanner in the works with impossible demands.

I visited the Rock in August and had an opportunity to stroll around this very British community with a High Street, so similar to many towns here. Every shopkeeper I talked to made it plain they were British through and through and had no wish to be ruled by Madrid.

This week Mrs May stated the Gibraltar border question had been resolved, but her views are not echoed in either Gibraltar or Spain. The Chief Minister of the Rock, Fabian Picardo, stated there were still matters to be resolved with regard to passage of people over the border, and the Spanish Government has stated on several occasions that unless its demands were met, it would veto any Brexit deal.

The difficulties over this border could be as big a deal-breaker as the Irish problem, and is not helped by a mischievous Brussels appearing to take Madrid’s side. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris