The Prime Minister of Spain has said that the country will vote against the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement if the text on Gibraltar is not changed.

Pedro Sanchez said: "As of today, if there are no changes with respect to Gibraltar, Spain will vote no to the agreement on Brexit."

Spain has been seeking assurances this week over the status of Gibraltar, the small peninsula on its southern coast that has been a British territory since 1713.

Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations, as Spain has long claimed sovereignty over it.

Yesterday, Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell also said that the country would not back the Brexit deal unless it makes it clear that Madrid must specifically agree on the status of Gibraltar.

The minister said that Madrid wanted the deal to clarify that talks on future ties between London and the bloc would not apply to the territory.

Gibraltar is due to leave the European Union along with the United Kingdom in March, although 96% of its population voted in the 2016 referendum to remain in the bloc.

Spain said last week that it welcomed the inclusion of a protocol on Gibraltar in the draft Brexit agreement, but Mr Borrell said that the document introduced "a certain confusion" on the issue.

Read: Spain warns it may derail Brexit deal over Gibraltar veto

As no political declaration on Britain's future relationship with the bloc after it leaves has been presented, he said "We cannot judge the whole without knowing the parts".

Noting how Spain was obliged to accept British positions on Gibraltar when it was negotiating its 1986 accession to the bloc, a decade after the UK had joined, a senior EU official said London now had to accept that "the tables have turned".