MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

'Negotiations on Gibraltar”. Peter Hain Speech

FCO Minister of State, Peter Hain, gave a speech on Gibraltar in an adjournment debate in Westminster Hall today.

The Government has called this debate to report to the House on the negotiations on Gibraltar. I understand the suspicion and fear on the Rock about the Government's motives. So I want to explain our policy ? and to nail the many myths about this policy.

Our aim is to safeguard Gibraltar's way of life, to secure a better future and to end our dispute with Spain. And this is not because we want to appease Spain or to rid ourselves of Gibraltar. Quite the opposite.

Why have the Foreign Secretary and I devoted such time and energy to Gibraltar these past six months ? when we have had to deal with international crises from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and vital issues elsewhere in Europe?

The need to resolve the Gibraltar issue.

Why? Because we feel it is our duty. Because the current situation is damaging Gibraltar, constraining our relationship with Spain, blocking British objectives in the EU, and undermining Britain's wider interests. Also, because there is I believe a moment in history either to seize or to lose, perhaps forever.

Gibraltarians have had to live under the shadow of Spanish antagonism for far too long. They have endured disruption to their everyday lives nobody should have to put up with in modern Europe. Lengthy border queues and delays. Telephone problems: insufficient landlines, inoperative mobiles. Restrictions on proper air services. Continual aggravation.

And it's not just Gibraltar's present that is difficult. Gibraltar cannot stand still in a globalised world. Its economy won't thrive in the new global marketplace unless it can modernise. It won't thrive unless it can attract new investment. And it won't thrive unless it opts for full and unfettered access to the EU's single market. Not until the barriers which separate it from the wider region come down. Those things will be harder or impossible to achieve while the current dispute festers.

Already Gibraltar's special tax breaks will have to change as a result of modernising initiatives from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, and the European Union. This will happen regardless of whether any agreement we reach is supported by the people of Gibraltar. But if we reach an agreement acceptable to