MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Queues and delays at the Gibraltar border reach Parliament
MP Rosindell requested information regarding the effect that border delays have had over the last four months. The detrimental effect that border delays have had on tourism and visitor numbers to Gibraltar has been the subject of recent questions in the House of Commons. In a written question tabled before the lower House, Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell requested information from the Secretary of State regarding the effect that the border delays have had over the last four months.
In response, David Lidington, Minister for Europe, told Mr. Rosindell that since “immigration and related issues are the constitutional competence of the Government of Gibraltar,” the UK Government does not hold detailed information on these subjects.
He did however inform Mr Rosindell that the UK Government are issuing formal protests to the Spanish Government regarding all disproportionate delays reported at the Gibraltar-Spain border.
“We are continuing to press the Spanish authorities to act without delay on the European Commission’s recommendations,” Mr Lidington said. “If implemented, we believe these recommendations would reduce the delays,” he optimistically added.
Recently published statistics from the Borders and Coastguard Agency reveal that visitors to Gibraltar during the peak months of October and November had decreased by 44% from the previous year.
Moreover, whilst the data shows that less people are visiting Gibraltar the corresponding queues are much longer.
In November 2013, queues at peak times were two hours longer than in 2012 despite there being nearly one quarter less vehicles crossing the border. In October 2013, 100% checks were frequently carried out and queues reached up to two and a half hours long.
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Read all commentsguess when the uk leaves the eu, the spaniards will close the gate and things will be a bit worse for the llanitos.
Jan 17th, 2014 - 02:30 pm 0The simple solution is to impose a £120 tax on flights from the UK to Spain and use the money to compensate Gibraltar. Should that keep some 100,000 British tourists from visiting Spain, the UK has assisted Spain with its unemployment problem.
Jan 17th, 2014 - 04:16 pm 0@1 Actually, when the UK leaves the EU, the British will open fire. The people of Gibraltar will be able to sink spanish watercraft and shoot down spanish aircraft at will. Artificial reefs at low cost. When you're keen on marine environmentalism, what better than to sink a spanish poaching boat? Law enforcement? Blow a guardia civil thug boat to smithereens. Explode the Algeciras oil terminal. When Gibraltar has its developed air and sea links to Morocco. Air is straightforward. Proper sea links should consist of hi-speed catamaran ferries. Various parts of Andalucia may well ask for Gibraltar protection. That's to say, British protection. Perhaps Britain could free the whole area from Cadiz to Malaga from an undemocratic tyranny. Didn't Britain conquer Spain when it was occupied by the French? Why shouldn't Britain conquer a criminal, undemocratic, dictatorial, tyrannical Spain? Bet the local Spanish, except for the smugglers and poachers, would love watching the Guardia Civil and National Police thugs being shot down in the streets. Crowds on the Avenue de Espana to watch GC vessels sinking. Congregations to watch the spanish air farce being shot out of the sky. Warnings to spanish commercial aircraft. “Your starboard wing is in Gibraltar air space and is about to be shot off. Please try to crash into the Bay of Gibraltar. Alternatively, we can try to give you co-ordinates for the Algeciras oil terminal or local administration buildings”.
Jan 17th, 2014 - 04:49 pm 0It might interest you to learn that the Campo de Gibraltar (in Spain) benefits greatly for its association with Gibraltar. You might like to consider that Spain is an economic disaster area and Gibraltar is still booming. But why not take advice from an argie economic expert that can point to all the argie economic successes?
@2 But it's far easier to impose a £200 entry tax on spanish nationals trying to enter any British territory. Maybe another £200 exit tax?
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