MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hague pledges full support for Gibraltar and forecasts Tory victory

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague: “there will be no taking risks with Gibraltar”.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Gibraltar with a clear message for the people of Gibraltar from David Cameron, the Conservative leader: “A Conservative government will always cherish the relationship with Gibraltar and will have nothing to do whatsoever with any shared sovereignty deal over Gibraltar”, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

Hague said this is as true of the next Conservative government as it was of the last and this was felt very strongly. “That is our pledge”.

“I also believe we owe it to the people of Gibraltar to work with them to maximise rather than suppress their economic opportunities as well as standing up for their rights to be associated with Britain”. He added “there will be no taking risks with Gibraltar”.

Mr Hague who came to Gibraltar to urge locals to vote in the coming June 4 European Parliament election said that success in the polls would give momentum to the Conservative campaign to form the next national government.

The number 2 Tory is part of a wave of high profile Conservative figures visiting the Rock ahead of the June 4 elections to the European Parliament. The next will be Eric Pickles the Conservative party chairman. They are keen to get Gibraltar’s vote and Mr Hague argued that every vote counts and can make the difference. He appealed for a good turn out as well as support for Conservative candidates.

The Conservative party has been consistently drumming home a message of support for Gibraltar starting with Michael Ancram who visited just over a week ago.

Mr Hague, well known in recent years as a TV celebrity as well as political figure, is widely expected to be party leader David Cameron’s deputy.

In a speech in Cheltenham last week Mr Hague said that he was proud to say that all the Conservative South-Western MEPs have been excellent representatives for their constituents and they and the party “always stand up for Gibraltar”.

In The Times last week he became the first member of the Tory leadership to predict a Conservative victory next year and said that his party was psychologically prepared for Government.

Named by David Cameron as his “deputy in all but name”, Mr Hague suggested that a Tory government would kill the Lisbon treaty and halt the latest process of European integration. He promised immediate legislation for a referendum to reject the treaty if it had not been ratified by the whole of the EU by the time that the Conservatives took power.

In an interview with The Times, the Shadow Foreign Secretary disclosed details of handover talks with the Civil Service — and contrasted them with the “fantasy politics” that marked the talks he had held as Conservative leader in 2001.

The Times reported that Mr Cameron’s team has instructed the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to prepare for a “national security council”.

Headed by Mr Cameron, it would include the defence, foreign, home and energy secretaries. Breaking with Labour’s “sofa government”, it would be a decision-making body staffed by the Cabinet Office secretariat, he said. Putting the Foreign Office on notice, Mr Hague said: “That is one of the things we would expect them to be prepared for when we come to office.”