Give Falklands and Gibraltar their own MP, says Farage: UKIP leader says territories' voices are dangerously 'muted'

Nigel Farage claims voices of territories are dangerously 'muted'



Territories collectively have 260,000 people and land area of 667,000 sq miles

Mr Farage says they should be able to elect their own 'MP for the Territories'



Nigel Farage has said the voices of overseas territories are dangerously 'muted' in Britain and they should be allowed to elect their own MP

The Falklands, Gibraltar and Britain’s other overseas territories should be given a seat in the Commons, Nigel Farage said yesterday.



The UKIP leader claims their voices are dangerously ‘muted’ in Britain and they should be allowed to elect their own ‘MP for the Territories’.



He points to France, which reserves seats in both of its houses of Parliament for dependencies including Reunion, Guadeloupe and French Polynesia. Last year France elected its first MP for Britain because London has so many French expatriates.



Both Gibraltar and the Falklands had ‘big neighbours behaving with increasing belligerence’, Mr Farage said. ‘The voice of these lands, however, is muted in London. They have shown us loyalty: isn’t it about time we reciprocated?’



There are 14 overseas territories – parts of our former empire that have not acquired independence or have voted to stay British.



Collectively, the territories have a population of 260,000 people and a land area of approximately 667,000 square miles.



Mr Farage said: 'Let us copy the French. Give the Crown dependencies a House of Commons seat, so that their voice can be heard in the chamber and at the top table of British politics.'



The current minister responsible for the Territories is Mark Simmonds, of the Foreign Office.



Gibraltar, however, is the responsibility of the Minister for Europe David Lidington MP, while the Falklands are the responsibility of Hugo Swire, another Foreign Office minister.



But Mr Farage said that the French National Assembly had 27 seats reserved for its overseas dependencies, with 21 representatives in its other legislative house, the Senate.

He suggests one ‘MP for the territories’ should represent all of Britain’s overseas territories.



‘Before anybody says that the combined population for these territories would make this difficult we must remember that the old Western Islands seat now called ‘a h-Eileanan an Iar’, has a population of less than Gibraltar alone,’ the UKIP leader insisted.



Mr Farage pointed to an unhappy historic precedent - when Malta was declined three MPs in the House of Commons and went on to break away from Britain.

Collectively, the territories have a population of 260,000 people and a land area of approximately 667,000 square miles. Pictured is Santa Barbara beach and the Rock of Gibraltar

‘Before Malta became independent it was offered full integration with the UK, including three MPs. A referendum was held in 1956 on the island and 77 per cent voted in favour of the proposal,’ he said.



‘Sadly the turnout was only 60 per cent - how we long for turnouts of 60 per cent today - and under the rules of the time the result was regarded as void.



‘Britain rejected the result, Malta didn’t get the MPs, slowly the path was set and its government became increasingly anti British, setting up deals with Gaddafi and becoming a republic.

