The Gibraltar Chronicle reports that Britain’s Labour Party this week gave an ‘absolute’ commitment to uphold the right of the people of Gibraltar to self-determination. Speaking at a reception organized by the Gibraltar Government on the fringe of the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Hilary Benn, the shadow Foreign Secretary, was unequivocal with his words.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn statement that the Falkland Islands are 'negotiable', a position he has maintained since he was first elected to Parliament, not only triggered immediate reaction from veterans and Falkland Islanders when he was chosen earlier this month: in effect, senior members from the party, even those within his shadow cabinet openly express their disapproval of his views, according to UK media reports.
British Government will continue to press Spain to honor the agreement to step up law enforcement cooperation in Gibraltar waters, Philip Dunne Minister of State for Defence has said. Mr Dunne was responding to a written question in the House of Commons from Tory MP Andrew Rosindell.
Simon Manley, Britain’s Ambassador to Spain, admitted this week that officials had underestimated how difficult it would be to start an ‘ad hoc’ dialogue with Spain referred to Gibraltar. Mr. Manley was asked about progress towards ad hoc dialogue during a wide-ranging interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC.
Spain has signaled its “full willingness” to improve cross-border law enforcement cooperation with Gibraltar, according to a press report in Spain. 'El Pais' said Madrid was seeking to defuse the fallout from last Saturday’s incident at sea, during which warning shots were fired by officers of the Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera (Customs) who tried to board a local pleasure boat in British waters.
The Spanish Government’s measures toward Gibraltar are ‘bearing fruit, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel García-Margallo said in a weekend interview in which he vowed to maintain pressure on the Rock. Although the minister’s tough language on Gibraltar was nothing new, it was the second time within the space of a week that he had spoken out on the Rock.
Spain’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, came under flak from the opposition PSOE for his ‘frivolous and inappropriate’ comments about Gibraltar, which were dubbed ‘Francoist’ by one Socialist politician, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.
London-based cruise company, Noble Caledonia, has announced the inclusion of Gibraltar as the turnaround port for two of its 2016 itineraries in the area. The news has been welcomed by the Rock's government which said this represented a major breakthrough achieved after years of negotiations by the cruise company’s local agent MH Bland with the support of the Gibraltar Tourist Board.
Pushing Spain’s claim over the sovereignty of Gibraltar is “a fundamental objective” for Spanish foreign policy, according to budget plans presented by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Madrid this week.
Gibraltar’s Conservative MEP Ashley Fox is compiling a dossier of constituent complaints and experiences of crossing the border in and out of Gibraltar. Mr Fox will hand the dossier to the EU Commission and says it will show Spain is acting “as an aggressor and not a European partner”, according to a report from the Gibraltar Chronicle.