Gibraltar will be ‘even more British’ after Brexit, says chief minister Picardo

Gibraltar’s chief minister has told Sky News the territory “is not going to be a political pawn in Brexit” and will become even more British after leaving the union. Draft Brexit negotiating guidelines, sent out on Friday, contain a clause suggesting that Spain will be able to veto any future trade deal between the EU and the UK. The clause has inflamed tensions over the status of 'the Rock’, which has been held by the UK since 1713 and is home to UK military bases.

[Spain is] employing her unhealthy obsession with Gibraltar and bringing it to the table of a very complex negotiation already.

Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo

Insisting that the guidelines would allow Spain “to discriminate against the British people of Gibraltar”, he said: “Gibraltar is not going to be a political pawn in Brexit, neither is it going to be a victim of Brexit. Gibraltar is going to be very prosperous, very successful and entirely British before, during and after Brexit.”

Politics