British Indian Ocean Territory

Debate between Anneliese Dodds and Caroline Johnson

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Dodds]

I am happy to give way to the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson).

[Dr Johnson]

Unlike some of my esteemed colleagues, I am not a learned lawyer or a former Attorney General, but to an ordinary layperson like me, it sounds very much like the right hon. Lady and her Government are prepared to give away sovereign British territory and billions of pounds of taxpayers’ hard-earned income, simply in case somebody brings a court case sometime in the future that may or may not be successful. Can she please reassure me that that is not true?

[Anneliese Dodds]

I think that the ordinary general public would be pretty concerned about a situation in which we had the risk of joint—[Interruption.] Opposition Members laugh. They laugh about the risk of joint military operations around the base. They laugh about the risk of other countries setting up outposts on surrounding islands, and they seem unconcerned about the threat of hostile actors trying to interfere with crucial communications. Those matters are of concern to the public, and they are of concern to the Government.

Gibraltar-Spain Border Checks

Debate between Anneliese Dodds and Caroline Johnson

Monday 14th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Dodds]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for his question. First, he asked about whether the interests and concerns of Gibraltarians will be paramount. They absolutely will be. We remain steadfast in our support for Gibraltar and will agree only to terms that the Government of Gibraltar are content with in a deal. Furthermore, the kind of leverage that he discussed would never be accepted by the UK Government. One of the objectives of having a treaty is precisely to remove border checks between Spain and Gibraltar.

[Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

The right hon. Lady talks about the negotiations, but the problem is that the Government do not have a great track record on negotiations. What did they get from the train driver negotiations but a lot of very cold pensioners? What did they get from the negotiations on the Chagos islands? They appear to have given away sovereign territory and paid for the privilege. How can we trust this Government with the safety of Gibraltar?

[Anneliese Dodds]

The peculiar and unfounded analogy that those on the Conservative Benches appear to be attempting to draw has been rejected by those living in those overseas territories, who can see this for what it is—party politicking, when we should instead be focused on the interests of those living in the overseas territories and our obligations to them.