BRUSSELS WILL BACK BID FOR JOINT GIBRALTAR RULE, SAYS SPAIN’S PM

SPAIN will revive its bid for shared sovereignty over Gibraltar once Britain has left the EU, its prime minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday. Mr Sanchez insisted Brussels would also support Madrid in a bid to resolve the dispute. He claimed that everyone loses, especially Britain, when it comes to Brexit “but regarding Gibraltar, Spain wins”. His comments will anger Brexiteers and fuel the ongoing row. Mr Sanchez added that Spain was in a position of strength over negotiations with Britain over the Rock after the agreement of a Brexit deal because Spanish policy effectively became EU policy.

“We are going to resolve a conflict that has been going for over 300 years,” he said.

Asked if Spain would seek a discussion over joint sovereignty once Britain leaves the bloc on March 29 next year, Mr Sanchez said: “We will discuss all issues.”

Making no attempt to hide his delight, he added: “We all lose [with Brexit], especially the United Kingdom, but regarding Gibraltar, Spain wins.” But Gibraltar’s 300,000 residents the so-called “Northern Irish backstop” could be dropped as it would avoid the need for customs checks along the border with the Irish Republic. Opposition to the backstop, designed to come into force if the border issue is not resolved by the end of the post-Brexit transition period in December 2020, has been the main factor behind threats by Eurosceptic Tories and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to vote down Mrs May’s deal. DUP leader Arlene Foster did not rule out her party backing a Norway-style deal rejected shared sovereignty with Spain in a referendum in 2002.

Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters yesterday that “Gibraltar is British” and when she negotiated for Britain she did so for the territory, but she did not go into detail.

Ignacio Molina, a Madrid think tank analyst, predicted sharing arrangements. He said: “There could be a special postal service embedded into both Spanish Correos and Royal Mail, local number plates with the European flag, healthcare provision in Spain, possible Spanish police action in Gibraltar.

“The airport would be shared. There would be no control of persons at the border.” with EEA membership, as the resulting customs rules would apply to the entire UK.

“I’m not going to be proscriptive with the Government,” she said yesterday. “What I’m saying is this deal, this current deal, does not allow us to take back control.

“Certainly not in terms of Northern Ireland, because we stay within the European Union structure and we will have no say on those rules – we will have a democratic deficit.”

At the Brussels summit, Irish premier Leo Varadkar warned there could be no Plan B if the Commons rejected Mrs May’s deal.

“The truth is what we have here is the best deal that is available both for the United Kingdom and for the European Union,” he said.

“Anyone can have a better deal or an alternative deal in their own minds, but an agreement 500 pages long that 28 member states can sign up to, nobody has that.

“What’s on the table is the deal that’s on the table.”

In a separate move, top EU diplomats were yesterday said to be investigating extending the Article 50 departure process if Mrs May’s deal is rejected by MPs, requiring unanimous support from the 27 remaining EU member states. only