Lords Chamber

Tuesday 3rd March 2026

(began 1 hour, 56 minutes ago)

Share Debate
Watch Live
Skip to latest contribution
14:36
14:37
14:38
14:39
14:40
14:40
14:41
14:43
14:43
14:44
14:44
14:45
14:46
14:47
None Portrait Oral questions: Potential impact of the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 on promoting economic growth and job creation in English regions and devolved nations
-

Second Oral Question Lord Forbes of Newcastle.
14:47
14:47
14:47
14:48
14:49
14:49
14:50
14:51
14:52
14:52
14:53
14:54
14:54
14:55
14:55
14:56
14:56
14:57
14:57
14:58
14:58
14:58
14:59
15:00
15:00
15:01
15:02
15:02
15:03
15:04
15:04
15:05
15:05
15:06
15:06
15:07
15:08
15:08
15:09
15:10
15:10
15:11
15:11
15:12
15:12
15:13
15:13
15:14
15:15
15:16
15:16
15:17
15:17
15:17
15:18
15:18
15:19
15:20
15:20
None Portrait Statement: Publication of the draft text of the UK-EU Treaty on Gibraltar
-

>> >> I >> I should >> I should sit >> I should sit down >> I should sit down without.

**** Possible New Speaker ****

I should sit down without.
15:21
Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Conservative)
-
-
the noble Lords, the Minister, for giving the House the opportunity to ask questions on this statement. I should begin by saying that the Official Opposition welcomes the fact that the Government of Gibraltar have been at the table throughout these negotiations. Gibraltar is British. The government tell us that sovereignty was never on the table throughout these negotiations, and it never should be. I only wish the government were consistent in their application of this approach to other treaties. This is a treaty that runs to over 1000 pages, and of course, we need careful time to consider the detail.

And I thank the noble Lord and his colleagues for ensuring the publication of the treaty in draft. And this has allowed us to begin the process of scrutiny early. Can the noble Lord say when the treaty will be laid formally, so that we can plan for the crag process, which will follow? When we went through the Crag process for the 2025 UK Mauritius Treaty, the government failed to follow the Ponsonby Rule. The rule established convention that the government will allow a debate on a substantive motion in respect of treaty ratification, where a formal request is made by the Official Opposition, so could the noble Lord confirm whether the government will follow the convention.

If a request is received in respect of this treaty on a connected scrutiny point, can the noble Lords say whether domestic legislation will also be needed before we proceed to ratification? And if so, when will that be laid before the House? As the noble Lord knows, we've been critical of the government's sequencing of the agreements in respect of the UK Mauritius Treaty and the Bill. So could he say whether the government is aware of any extant and binding treaties in respect of Gibraltar that may be in tension with the terms of the draft treaty that has been now been agreed with the EU.

Turning from process to the practicalities of the treaty, can the noble Lord please set out what steps will be taken under the treaty to protect the rights of British citizens to freely visit Gibraltar? We know that dual passport checks will be undertaken at the airport in Gibraltar. What recourse will a citizen in circumstances where Spanish border control and British border control are in disagreement on a person's admission to what will remain British territory, and can he say what oversight UK authorities will have over the activities of the Spanish border control operations in Gibraltar? What is the process for dispute resolution? Ministers know that we on these benches have profound concerns about the process of dynamic alignment.

We must not be rule takers. How will dynamic alignment operate under this treaty, and how will Gibraltar and the UK avoid becoming subject to ongoing EU rule taking without meaningful political control? Can the noble Lord confirm that Gibraltar, and not EU politicians, will decide on her own future? When the Minister and the Other place was asked about article 25 and its reference to the ECHR, he said we comply with the ECHR, as does Gibraltar and indeed Spain and the EU.

We do not shy away from that. That is the statement, obviously of the status quo. But can the Minister please explain what the status of article 25 would be if the UK were to withdraw from the ECHR? Would an amendment to the treaty need to be agreed with the EU at that point, or could the UK derogate from article 25 unilaterally? Finally, on a point of fairness, this treaty appears to create an imbalance in the treatment of EU citizens, and UK citizens at EU National may have free access to Gibraltar through the land border without any restrictions whatsoever, but a British national travelling from the UK could potentially be banned from entering at the airport by Spanish border control guards.

These are challenging issues and of course we can understand why compromise can be necessary. But could the noble Lord please set out the work that he is doing to ensure that UK citizens continue to have smooth and free access to water, which is, after all, still a British territory? I look forward to the noble Lords reply to these questions.
15:25
Lord Purvis of Tweed Portrait Lord Purvis of Tweed (Liberal Democrat)
-
-
I welcome the Minister back to FCDO business, even though it may FCDO business, even though it may well be temporary. These benches support this treaty in the House of Commons without any sense of irony. The conservative opposition said that Parliament had been kept in the dark about this treaty, but given it was the previous government that ignored the wishes of 96% of the people of Gibraltar in seeking to remain in the EU, and then, having been forced on them the hardest of Brexits.

And then the previous government took no action to correct the damage, they were told by Gibraltarians that would happen and then refused to present to Parliament a mandate for negotiations to have a sustainable agreement. I therefore thank the government for working closely with the Gibraltar Government and agreeing with these benches, who said before the election that nothing about Gibraltar should be agreed without Gibraltar. I also want to put on record the hard work of the Chief Minister and deputy Chief Minister of our sister party, Joseph Garcia, but also officials including the recently retired Dominic Searle of the Gibraltar representative in the UK.

For all of their patience and perseverance and dedication to reach agreement. I also welcome the fact that the Gibraltar Parliament is debating this treaty as we speak now, and the fact that the Gibraltar Government has accepted a constructive amendment from the opposition. We will likely see it pass unanimously. From the Gibraltar Parliament and then be sent to us for consideration under the Crag process. I hope that if our EU Committee seeks a debate on this, the government will honour the Grimstone convention in this House and timetable a debate, and I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm that the government will do that.

If the EU Committee seeks it. These benches have and will always support the right of Gibraltarians to decide their future, and therefore, can the Minister confirm that there are no sovereignty concessions? And indeed, there is no mechanism in this treaty which would allow for sovereignty claims? I know the Gibraltar government sought independent legal advice to confirm this, but the Minister put it on the record at the despatch box would be helpful. I believe the EU and Spain have entered into these new arrangements in good faith, but we have to be conscious conscience of the previous unilateral actions of Madrid, which has caused disruption and concern for Gibraltarians in the past.

So can we receive assurances that the dispute resolution mechanisms between the EU and the UK can also allow for Gibraltar to seek to extract itself from the terms, should it feel the terms are reneged on. I hope that that will never be necessary, but we don't know. Perhaps a right wing government in Madrid might take a different view from the current one. I note also the pragmatic position of the Gibraltar Government for the involvement and the operation of the ECJ in this.

We are perhaps starting to see sensible approaches again, which is welcome. And as we seek better and closer relations with the EU, can we ensure that in the reset on SPS and hopefully youth movement, there are no negative implications for this treaty? The Minister could confirm that. I would be grateful. Also, as part of the SPS discussions, can we seek an SPS point for Gibraltar adjacent to Gibraltar, not farther away than currently being envisaged, which will be gratefully greatly beneficial to the Gibraltar economy? The benefits of the work of the Gibb government will be for the people and economy of Gibraltar.

There are 15,000 crossings each day for workers in Gibraltar. All parts of society are interconnected. The health and care service is reliant on staffing and family relationships across the frontier. This doesn't make any Gibraltarian less British, but it does mean easing and removing friction is a pressing need. We would also like to see no delay now in the implementation. And can I ask the Minister if we are preparing for provisional implementation of the agreed text prior to formal ratification in order to avoid the unnecessary burden of installing costly infrastructure for entry and exit systems before the 10th of April.

This would be a pragmatic and also welcome step. We also welcome finally the approach of the Gibraltar Government and the UK government, and indeed the EU, and indeed we hope that we can learn positive lessons and build on this leadership by Gibraltar so the rest of the UK can adopt a similar mechanism and processes for the rest of the UK to make benefits, as Gibraltar will see if it is good for the people and economy of Gibraltar, then does the Minister agree that it is good for the people and the economy, for the UK as a whole?
15:30
Lord Collins of Highbury Portrait Lord Collins of Highbury, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Labour)
-
-
Well, I thank the noble Lords for. Their questions and contributions and I certainly welcome their both their comments in terms of support for the agreement. There is absolutely no doubt that this is good for Gibraltar. I must declare an interest. I was a union official representing members in Gibraltar for 30 odd years, so I visited it on numerous occasions. I've also been there and experienced it when there were difficulties on the border. In fact, I represented 10,000 Moroccan workers who were based in the barracks in Gibraltar when the border was far from open.

So can I just say this is really good news and absolutely, sovereignty has never been on the table, is not on the table. In fact, the agreement safeguards it explicitly. And the double lock we set out at the beginning has been fully respected. Can I also say that, you know, to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Callaghan, we expect the signature next month. Following the signature, the treaty will be laid under the crag in the usual way, and we will follow the appropriate parliamentary processes.

And there are, of course, parallel processes on the EU side that must be observed. So, I mean, just to to reassure, we will follow Crag and Parliament will be able to fully scrutinise the treaty. There is no doubt about that. But can I just say that it really is good news? As the noble Lord, Lord said, 15,000 people. This is not only good news for the economy of Gibraltar and the people of Gibraltar, and it's had the support of Gibraltar, of course.

No, those you know, the economy of Gibraltar is 19% service orientated, but it also through that employment it's creating and that cross-border employment is also having a really positive impact on the region in Spain. It's good news for Spain as well. And certainly when I first went to Gibraltar, La Linea and the area around that was certainly one of the highest unemployment areas in Spain. So it's really, really is good news. Can I just also reassure the noble Lord that, you know, British citizens have always been subject to immigration checks in Gibraltar? You know, that has always been the case.

And certainly as a union official, I also had to ensure that I couldn't work in Gibraltar unless explicitly approved by the Gibraltar government. So immigration and entry into Gibraltar is and will remain the responsibility of the Government of Gibraltar. And can I just say that we are absolutely clear that, you know, I mean, I think one of the things the noble Lord referred to as we speak, the Gibraltar Parliament is considering the treaty and the principle we have adhered to adhere to these negotiations is nothing about Gibraltar without Gibraltar, and that will absolutely continue.

And we've been very, very clear that that will continue to be the case as we move forward. And, of course, you know, one of the things that we are very also clear about is that there are, as is normal in these types of agreements, a range of mechanisms available to help the parties resolve disagreements. And certainly the the expectation is that we will resolve those issues amicably through dialogue. And if this isn't possible, there is a formal dispute resolution mechanism that includes the possibility of using independent arbitration to resolve the issues.

So that will be the case. But finally, and you know, no one expects or or would hope that it doesn't come to this, but there is the ultimate insurance of a unilateral termination clause that can be used in the event it becomes apparent the agreement is not working for us or our partners. So I think it's absolutely clear that all the guarantees that we've sought, particularly the guarantees in terms of our military operations and facilities, are all there.

So I'm pleased that the noble Lords welcomed the agreement. I'm pleased that after five years of uncertainty and uncertainty for the economy, that we now have a situation where we can move forward that will support the continuation of Gibraltar as a British territory, but under the control and determination of the Gibraltar people.
15:36
15:37
Lord Collins of Highbury Portrait Lord Collins of Highbury, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Labour)
-
-
Well, I think there have been a number of occasions that the noble Lord and I have been in Gibraltar Lord and I have been in Gibraltar together, so I certainly understand and fully appreciate his commitment. and fully appreciate his commitment. But let me be clear, we were not willing to enter into an agreement that the Government of Gibraltar were not content with. They are full of disagreement, which they judge will be good for jobs and businesses in Gibraltar. Good for the people of Gibraltar.

Indeed, good for the prosperity. As I said earlier, for the whole of the region, Gibraltar is not joining the EU single market or Schengen. Gibraltar will align with some laws through their own domestic system, mainly in relation to immigration and customs. The European Court of Justice will not have jurisdiction over Gibraltar, but will have limited interpretative role in resolving disputes over EU law. Accordingly, Gibraltar courts will factor CGU rulings into their consideration when ruling on matters that touch on the EU aligned law in Gibraltar.

But let's be clear and we know this Gibraltar geographically is a small place, but it has huge potential for service industries. That's where the jobs are coming from. That's where they export. And this agreement will guarantee that for the future. And I think with all parties agreeing to that, we can see a prosperous future for the people of Gibraltar.
15:38
15:38
15:39
15:40
15:42
15:42
15:42
15:43
15:44
15:45
15:46
15:47
15:48
15:49
15:49
15:50
15:51
15:51
15:52
15:53
15:53
15:54
15:54
15:55
15:55
15:56
15:57
15:58
Feed Live - Click to view video
Return to start of debate - Return to top of page