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Britain’s Tories will stand by the people of Gibraltar “no matter what” pledges Hague

The foreign secretary addressing the Gibraltar reception at the Conservative Conference in Manchester (Gibraltar Chronicle)

Britain’s Conservative Party will stand by the people of Gibraltar “no matter what”. That was the pledge made by Foreign Secretary William Hague on Sunday night as he addressed the Gibraltar reception at the Conservative Conference in Manchester.

Hague revealed that he expects to start ‘ad hoc’ talks “soon as a way of enabling all relevant parties to explore differences”. But, the Foreign Secretary stressed, that this does not weaken UK’s commitment to a Trilateral Forum of Dialogue between the UK, Gibraltar and Spain.

In a well-received address Mr Hague highlighted British embassies around the world have been fully briefed to defend Gibraltar’s interests and noted that all leading Foreign Office officials dealing with the Rock are now on first name terms with Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.

“We will continue to respect the wishes of the people of Gibraltar. We will never agree to any transfer of sovereignty – or even start a process of negotiation of sovereignty, not that I ever would – without their consent. And we will take whatever action is necessary to safeguard Gibraltar, its people and its economy,” he told a packed reception.

As the Prime Minister told the people of Gibraltar, let’s look to the future: we want a confident, flourishing, secure Gibraltar with good, constructive relationships with all its neighbours in the region – north and south. That’s best for everyone and I hope that by the time of this Reception next year we’ll have made some progress towards it. But no matter what, we’ll stand by the people of Gibraltar.

The words were not only for consumption at the reception. Earlier in the plenary session Mr Hague told Conservatives that the UK will do its utmost to resolve conflicts around which is in UK’s national interest, and “so is sticking up for British nationals around the world and for Britain’s Overseas Territories.”

“You would think that was obvious,” he told the conference adding: “Later today I will be proud to speak alongside the Chief Minister of Gibraltar. But the last Labour government was prepared to negotiate away British sovereignty over Gibraltar against its people’s wishes - this government will never do that”.

Meanwhile, Mr Hague told the Gibraltar reception 2013 has been a special year for Gibraltar because it is the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Utrecht, which made Gibraltar “officially British”.

“So Gibraltar has been British for longer than most countries in the world have been in existence; I must admit we haven’t abided by every clause of that Treaty – we’ve welcomed Jews and Moors to settle on the Rock – and that’s another reason to be proud of Gibraltar.

So after 300 years of British Gibraltar we can look to another 300 years of British Gibraltar. As the Prime Minister said at Gibraltar National Day, ‘let’s keep it that way’.”

The Foreign Secretary recognised that it has not been an easy year for Gibraltar, “because of a certain neighbouring Government’s behaviour”.

“There have been border delays for up to seven hours at times. There have been frequent illegal incursions by Spanish vessels. Even goods like sand and concrete have been prevented from entering Gibraltar. There have been threats of further action – on taxation, at the UN, at the airport. That has all been wholly unacceptable,” he said.

Gibraltarians, he said, have had to endure a great deal of unpleasantness because of this, as have the thousands of Spanish commuters who benefit from employment in Gibraltar.

Mr Hague was emphatic that Spain’s measures are disproportionate, unlawful under EU law and quite obviously politically motivated. “They were introduced immediately after the lawful creation by the Government of Gibraltar of an artificial reef in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters to protect the marine environment, a reef identical to many others that have been created around, shall we say, the Mediterranean’s north-western coast.”

The Foreign Secretary acknowledged that Gibraltarians have faced these challenges with enormous dignity.

“I’m sure that dignity was made easier by Gibraltarians’ well-earned self-confidence: Gibraltar’s economy continues to grow, in spite of economic troubles in many other parts of Europe. Gibraltar’s unemployment figures are very low indeed.”

“The people of Gibraltar have their EU rights and Spain must respect them”.