Rock’s SOS*
*That’s the ‘Shove Off Spanish’ plea of besieged Brits living on Gibraltar
IN the pubs, cafes and shops of Gibraltar, there is only one topic of conversation: Brexit. The word is almost spat from the lips of locals who are horrified that Britain is leaving the EU.
‘It feels like a stab in the back,’ said Eric Asquez, 47, born and bred on The Rock.
Perched on the southern tip of Spain, the British enclave of 32,000 people voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU, with 95.9 per cent opting to stay in.
Now Gibraltar is facing an uncertain future, as Spain wasted no time after the result was announced in claiming it should be given joint sovereignty – a plan rejected by more than 98 per cent of Gibraltarians in a referendum in 2002.
‘The Spanish government is going to start pressing us hard,’ said worried taxi driver Fidelio Bonfante, 55. ‘After we leave, things are going to get very difficult at the border.’
The border crossing with Spain – its only land access to the Continent – has previously been the focus of disputes over the territory’s sovereignty.
In 2013, during a bitter row over disputed waters around Gibraltar, the Spanish authorities intensified border checks to create huge traffic jams that lasted for hours.
There is little doubt in the minds of ordinary Gibraltarians that they are part of the UK. Indeed, with its British High Street shops and supermarkets, and traditional red post boxes, it is easy for visitors to imagine they are strolling through an English seaside town.
At Morrisons supermarket, Carole Crute, 68, from Ashford, Kent, a retired secretary who emigrated to Gibraltar with her husband and father 12 years ago, said: ‘It’s all the uncertainty – my 94-year-old father has lung cancer and we have been going to Spain for his treatment. That sort of thing worries me most. We don’t know what is going to happen now.’
Jodie Julian, 21, whose grandmother has owned The Angry Friar Pub in Main Street for 23 years, warned: ‘There is going to be hell between Gibraltar and Spain.
‘I worry that Gibraltar is going to suffer really badly economically. There is no-one to back us up now.’
Access to the European single market has helped Gibraltar’s economy, built around financial services and its port, post double-digit economic growth even during the Euro crisis.
But rumours already abound that financial firms will flee if they can no longer access the EU single market. Barmaid Sue Stevens, 47, said: ‘There are loads of betting companies here. The workers who came for breakfast on Friday said they will go back to the UK once we leave.’
It is not just British workers who are affected. More than 12,000 Spanish people cross the border to work in Gibraltar each day – many in the service and hospitality industries.
Christian Mayor, 26, a chef at Wagamama restaurant in the upmarket Ocean Village Marina, travels to work from his home in Algeciras 15 miles away. ‘I am shocked and it is painful. I feel us Spanish are like brothers with the English,’ he said.
‘When Britain does finally leave we might need to get visas to work here. It might become difficult to get jobs, to get money.’
Waitress Denisa Fussiova, 25, originally from Slovakia, was more upbeat. She said: ‘I don’t think there will be big changes. Most Gibraltarians don’t want to work in hospitality and cleaning jobs. They will still need us.’