Gibraltar Chief Minister derides “pandemic of disrespect running right to the core of the British Government” in fiery Parliamentary speech

Fabian Picardo told Gibraltar’s MPs “We have at no point in our history been shown such disregard by the United Kingdom Government.”

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo attacked the government’s position in Gibraltar’s Parliament.

The Chief Minister of Gibraltar has made a brutal speech in the Rock’s Parliament today after the Spanish Foreign Minister announced that European Relations and International Trade Secretary Twistednuke had agreed to a draft deal which would see all those born Gibraltarian be given Spanish citizenship. The plan would also grant Spanish citizens the right to continue to live and work in Gibraltar, without reciprocal treatment for Gibraltarians in Spain. This latter provision would also undermine Gibraltar’s control over its immigration policy.

The government of Gibraltar had not been consulted before the deal was announced and no statement was offered by the British Brexit Secretary. Gibraltar’s leader Fabian Picardo said this would be “dual sovereignty by the back door” in a letter which has caused a major crisis for the government and has prompted the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister, who, as Foreign Secretary, was left out of the loop.



Continuing his vociferous slamming of the British government, Mr Picardo told Gibraltar’s Parliament that “we have at no point in our history been shown such disregard by the United Kingdom Government. Their policy of the past few days goes directly against decades of continuity and, frankly, I am aghast.“ On the prospective deal, Mr Picardo echoed his previous criticism, stating unequivocally “If every single member of parliament here today, if every resident of Gibraltar, is to be automatically considered a subject of the King of Spain then the British Government has shredded our constitution and handed the scraps to Madrid.”



“Now i know all members agree that democracy here must be upheld and that there is no question of us ever agreeing to joint sovereignty, therefore our constitution states that London must drop this agreement at once. Furthermore, this draft agreement contains provision regarding the immigration of Spanish residents to Gibraltar. The status of being an Overseas Territory is supposed to be quite clear – immigration is a local matter for Gibraltar – the utter disrespect the British Government has shown us over this issue is beyond belief.”



Whilst the Brexit Secretary came in for some personal criticism, with the Chief Minister accusing him of having “read absolutely nothing about our situation, whilst destroying his integrity in claiming that he has, integrity which we all now know he never had, allowing the Foreign Secretary to fall on their sword for his actions,” Mr Picardo’s also made the point that this was a much wider problem. In a startling moment, Gibraltar’s highest ranking elected official accused the British government of having a “wider pandemic of disrespect” running right to its “core”.



He went on, attacking the lack of communication from the government, proclaiming that “since the release of the open letter I have spoken to representatives of the Governments of Spain, Scotland and Northern Ireland, additionally I would like to inform the house that I will be speaking with the Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party after this sitting, but not one member of the British Government has contacted us since they took office, never mind when the deal was reached. This is unacceptable, we should not have to resort to the press.”



Once again bringing up the spectre of independence, a possibility he raised in his original letter, he made clear to the press, and officials, that “I do not believe that independence is a short term move. We would only consider that if the UK Government sticks to its position, which having no deal is better than.” Inciting the example of Malta, he said “we are proud Britons and proud unionists, but we must recall the events of Malta. Over three quarters of its citizens backed full integration with Britain and yet just 8 years later the Island had attained independence.”



In a rare show of unity, the Leader of the Opposition, Elliott Philips, told MPs that “We stand at a point in history where we must stand tall for the ancient liberties of Gibraltar and of Gibraltarians. Until now we had presumed that internationally the British Government were always best placed to do so and responsible enough to do so – until this shambles.”



“If we are not being listened to, then i must say to our government, let them hear the voices of the people! Be it in a General Election or a Referendum on the deal, remember it was our party which delivered 2002, something we will deliver again”, he continued. Also threatening independence, Mr Phillips, in a bold challenge to the Westminster government, said “Independence, not now, not yet – but it is absolutely correct thinking medium to long term regarding Brexit, of which we may not know the final outcome until next year.”



In an earlier response by letter to the original complaint by the Chief Minister, Mr Nuke had told Mr Picardo that “I must firstly clarify that while discussions have taken place as to what a Gibraltar-Spanish treaty would look like, no treaty text of such has actually been written, we are merely at a preliminary discussion stage.” He also admitted that “Now at the time of that meeting, the details of what the Kingdom of Spain was requesting was not fully appreciated. We feel that it would be inappropriate to expect citizens of Gibraltar to require Spanish citizenship to exercise rights under such a freedom of work area, and we feel that an agreement that jeopardises the Constitution of Gibraltar would also be inappropriate.” He finished off his letter by inviting Mr Picardo to set representation for Gibraltar to the next round of talks.

To cap off a nightmare couple of days, Mr Nuke has also been called to Parliament this evening to answer an Urgent Question from Shadow Brexit Secretary and former Conservative Prime Minister InfernoPlato on the unrelated matter of a recent statement by the EU’s chief negotitor, the text of which reads “To ask the Secretary for European Relations and Trade to update the House on UK negotiations on leaving the EU in response to the Statement from the EU’s Chief Negotiator on 8 October.” This comes after the Brexit Secretary was criticised for failing to provide a statement to the House of Commons. He is also facing a looming Motion of No Confidence tabled by new Labour Leader WillShakespeare99.

The Guardian will continue to provide updates to this developing story.