Hague reiterates the UK's commitment to Gibraltar

The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, today spoke to Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, and reiterated the UK's commitment to the people of Gibraltar. The Foreign Secretary said: "I emphasised to Gibraltar's elected Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, that the UK stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Gibraltar at this time of increasing Spanish pressure and rhetoric. I also highlighted that we will respect Gibraltar's 2006 Constitution and the commitments the UK has repeatedly made not to compromise on British sovereignty over Gibraltar. We discussed the need for a political solution to the current tension with Spain, which would be firmly in the interests of communities on both sides of Gibraltar's border with Spain. I call upon Spain to respect the agreements made at Cordoba and to avoid actions which could increase tension further. We agreed that it was important to respond to actions, not rhetoric, and I confirmed that we would continue to raise our concerns with Spain."

Kerry McCarthy MP, Labour's Shadow Foreign Office Minister, commenting on the threat of a transit fee for crossing the border between Spain to Gibraltar, said: "Time and again, the Spanish government has triggered unnecessary delays and disruption to people trying to cross the border between Spain and Gibraltar. Now they appear to be using the prospect of a transit fee as a bargaining chip with the UK. This is simply unacceptable. At this time of year many of those people trying to cross the border are British holidaymakers and their families. It is wrong for the Spanish government to attempt to use the border crossing to score political points at their expense. Gibraltar's residents also make heavy use of the border crossing to reach their jobs and relatives in Spain. Any measure designed to penalise the residents of Gibraltar should be strongly rejected by the Foreign Office."

UKIP's MEP for Gibraltar, William Dartmouth, has reacted to the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Garcia-Margallo threats to block the peninsula’s airspace and charge a €50 fee for all cars crossing the border into the British Mediterranean outpost. "It is time the British Government pulled its finger out and stopped mouthing diplomatic niceties to Madrid," the Earl of Dartmouth said.

"It is becoming obvious that the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, caught up in a corruption scandal and with a tanking economy with over 50% of their youth out of work, needs a distraction and their futile claims over Gibraltar seem to fit his bill. To see this sort of behavior from a so-called ally is sad in the extreme, it is more suited to Argentina than a mature European democracy. However, repeated maritime incursions into sovereign Gibraltarian waters, blocking the border, threatening the airspace and singling out Gibraltarian citizens for enhanced audits show that we are not dealing with an entirely rational Government in Madrid. What Mr Rajoy and his Government must remember is that the people of Gibraltar withstood the behavior of Franco, as they have every attempt to intimidate them over the past 300 years. They are not going to kowtow now. The British Government must show some backbone to support the people of Gibraltar. By sending a frigate to Gibraltar, the message will ring out loud and clear: Gibraltar is British."