Spain was tonight told to keep its hands off Gibraltar, as Madrid made yet another attempt to tease the Mediterranean territory away from Britain.
Foreign minister José Manuel Albares used a BBC interview to suggest that the UK’s future relationship with the EU would be linked to the future of the historic enclave.
Since December 2020, a post-Brexit deal between the UK, Spain and the EU has allowed citizens of Gibraltar to remain part of the border-free Schengen area among other EU agreements.
But no permanent solution has yet been found and Spanish officials have made repeated threats to close or throttle the crossing.
Mr Albares told Newsnight: ‘It is not resolved yet, there is no agreement and it is very clear it is part of the withdrawal agreement.
‘We need to solve the issue of Gibraltar in order to have a full European Union-UK relationship.’
But shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: ”Gibraltar is British, end of, and we will remind the government exactly where the sovereignty of Gibraltar lies.’
Foreign minister José Manuel Albares used a BBC interview to suggest that the UK’s future relationship with the EU would be linked to the future of the historic enclave.
Since December 2020, a post-Brexit deal between the UK, Spain and the EU has allowed citizens of Gibraltar to remain part of the border-free Schengen area among other EU agreements. But no permanent solution has yet been found.
Labour’s decision to surrender control of the Chagos Islands last year has already prompted debate about other British Overseas Territories.
Sir Keir Starmer is currently seeking a new agreement with Brussels that would allow UK firms to access lucrative defence contracts among other changes.
The talks are already being delayed by French demands for fishing rights in UK waters.
And now Spain has raised an issue that was settled 312 years ago when the Treaty of Utrecht passed ownership of Gibraltar from Spain to Britain.
Labour’s decision to surrender control of the Chagos Islands last year has already prompted debate about other British Overseas Territories.
These include the Falklands and Gibraltar which are subject to long-standing claims for a return to rule by Argentina and Spain respectively.
The mountainous three-mile long rock peninsula shares a land border with Spain, and Madrid remains insistent on eventually obtaining total sovereignty.
The Rock’s 2006 constitution stipulates that there can be no transfer of sovereignty to Spain against the wishes of its voters.
In a referendum in 2002, Gibraltarians resoundingly rejected the idea of joint sovereignty between the UK and Spain.
