Brexit: Gibraltar

Lord Luce Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Luce (CB)]

I declare an interest as a former Governor of Gibraltar and as the current chancellor of the new University of Gibraltar. When I arrived as Governor, exactly 20 years ago this month, one of my tasks was to help and encourage Gibraltar to transform from a defence-oriented economy—although defence remains very important today—to a diversified economy, in which it could be financially more resilient. During that time this has happened. Today we have a resilient, strong economy: tourism, port and bunker services, online gaming and financial services are well regulated and transparent, in conformity with the standards expected by the European Union and the OECD. This transformation is being brought about and led by two notable people: Sir Peter Caruana, the former Chief Minister, and the present Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, who may be listening to this debate.

Gibraltar has faced many challenges in the past 312 years under British sovereignty; now it faces Brexit. It faces the dangers of Brexit and I therefore welcome this report led by the noble Lord, Lord Boswell. It seems to me that there are three issues for Gibraltar. First, there is access to the single market. As we have heard, 90% of the financial services are with the United Kingdom. Secondly, there is the need for the free flow of people and goods on the frontier, with 12,000 people every day going into Gibraltar from Spain, 7,000 of them Spanish, with the EU Commission playing the role of arbitrator regarding the flow of people across the frontier. Thirdly, there is the need for co-operation in security and judicial matters—for example, the European arrest warrant.

Against that background we have this excellent report, published under the chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Boswell. I welcome the point that everyone—above all the noble Lord himself—has made, that Her Majesty’s Government have a moral responsibility to the people of Gibraltar. It goes without saying that Her Majesty’s Government must keep up the commitment on sovereignty but, as always, with the backing of this Parliament. However, there are other practical recommendations, such as keeping the UK and Gibraltar as a single state for the purposes of negotiation; suggesting that we should strengthen Gibraltar’s financial and business links with the UK; suggesting that Her Majesty’s Government should underpin EU funding arrangements in the future; and, if the frontier becomes an external one, taking up the Chief Minister’s suggestion of some kind of local traffic management plan that works in other areas.

Our relations with Spain would benefit enormously from collaboration across the frontier, Gibraltar contributing 25% of regional GDP in the local Spanish area and being the second-highest employer in the region of Andalusia. The co-operation is enormous, as are the benefits, so the choice for Spain is quite straightforward: either return to the stale old Francoist bullying and use Gibraltar as a diversion from political problems, or recognise an overall mutual interest of close economic and political relations with the UK against the background of the EU negotiations and the achievements of the previous Spanish socialist Government in collaborating more closely with Gibraltar to the benefit of all in that region—Britain, Spain and Gibraltar. That must now be our aim.