MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Straw guarantees Gibraltar self-determination

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has told Gibraltar Leader of the Opposition Joe Bossano that any future discussions with Spain are “ad-referendum” to the people of the Rock. Mr Straw said this in reply to a question from Mr Bossano at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth.

"This means that every matter discussed could not proceed to the stage of agreement without the people of Gibraltar being consulted, which could be done through the Government, and the support of the people of Gibraltar obtained," a GSLP spokesman told the Gibraltar Chronicle.

"This is a significant development. The public statement by Jack Straw certainly goes further than the preamble to the 1969 constitution and goes back to a policy used by the Conservative Government in the 1980s. It will be recalled that after London and Madrid had agreed in principle to the Brussels Declaration, this still had to be ratified by the House of Assembly."

"Mr Bossano asked Mr Straw that since the Labour Party was committed to the right of self-determination and respecting the wishes of people, and this was the position of the Labour Government in its foreign policy, did he agree that after the 2002 referendum result he was no longer in a position to discuss the Rock's sovereignty with Spain." "Mr Straw went on to say he had taken careful note of the result and was bearing it very much in mind and that in any dialogue with Spain, whatever was discussed would have to be "ad-referendum" to the people of Gibraltar."

The GSLP added: "Our view remains that any initiative that UK intends to take must have the consent of Gibraltar beforehand, so that it does not even reach the stage of discussion with Spain if we do not want it to, let alone agreement. However, the new British policy of making everything "ad-referendum" to Gibraltar is still better than what there was before and the way it was operating during the Brussels relaunch."

In July 2002 Mr. Straw announced before the House of Commons that UK was willing to share sovereignty over Gibraltar with Spain given several conditions regarding internal self government, British traditions and way of life, and full Gibraltar participation in the EU single market. Mr. Straw further argued that Spain was a reliable first line partner and ally in Europe.

In spite of Foreign Office objections the local government called a referendum held the following November when the Straw initiative was defeated by a 99% landslide with an 89% voters' turnout.