Gibraltar shows the deal is not inviolable

As if the Irish border question was not a big enough barrier to securing a Brexit agreement, a new obstacle has emerged in the form of Gibraltar. Spain is threatening to veto the UK-EU deal unless there is greater “clarity” over the future of the Rock. Spain disputes the UK’S sovereignty, granted by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 to end the War of Spanish Succession. However, when the people of Gibraltar were asked in a referendum in 2002 whether sovereignty should be shared between the two countries they rejected the idea by a landslide majority: just 1 per cent of those who voted was in favour. Gibraltarians have a right of self-determination that Spain cannot unilaterally undo.

But the future relationship still has to be agreed by the other 27 EU member states and when their foreign ministers met in Brussels yesterday it was evident that this is not yet a done deal. Spain wants Gibraltar to continue to be a bilateral matter sorted out between Madrid and London and not wrapped into future UK-EU trade arrangements. Josep Borrell, Spain’s foreign minister, said they sought clarification of Article 184 of the draft treaty, which the EU’S leaders only saw for the first time on Wednesday. It commits the EU and the UK “to use their best endeavours, in good faith and in full respect of their respective legal orders, to take the necessary steps to negotiate expeditiously the agreements governing their future relationship... with a view to ensuring that those agreements apply as from the end of the transition period”.

Mr Borrell said it must be clear that the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the EU will not apply to Gibraltar. But if Spain’s concerns can be addressed, why can’t the UK’S? While the Withdrawal Agreement maybe inviolable, a point reaffirmed yesterday by Mrs May and Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator, the political declaration clearly isn’t. Other countries may raise their own objections, which Brussels will have to accommodate, probably through annexes to the main deal.

Of course, the UK was a principal partner to the agreement and was aware of the detailed provisions, unlike most other EU countries. However, the same political considerations must apply. Some countries will want changes because their legislatures will not wear what is proposed. The same should apply for the UK.