Sep 28 - Picardo At GSLP Meeting: “Gibraltar Is Facing A Watershed Moment”
The following is the speech given by the Leader of the GSLP, Fabian Picardo, at the party's 40th anniversary AGM which took pleace yesterday evening at the John Mackintosh Hall. Mr Picardo notes that there are some small differences between this text and the speech itself.
Good evening my dear friends
Its now been almost 10 months since we last met in this place.
Our pre-election meeting was at the Queen’s Cinema.
But it was here that we won the 2015 General Election.
And we won it in style.
It was here that we delivered another record breaking victory for this party that we love.
In 1992 we delivered the highest win in Gibraltar political history.
We won by 73%.
But that was a three horse race.
Last year was different.
Last year we delivered the highest win in history in a two horse race.
We won by 68%.
That is a humbling and huge majority.
The GSLP breaking records again.
And we won by 68% despite facing a campaign of lies the like of which Gibraltar has never seen before.
A campaign of lies which were designed to create indiscriminate fear.
Because the GSD had nothing to offer our nation.
They did not have a manifesto.
They did not have a plan for the future.
And they did not have any problem trying to scare people into voting for them.
But our people saw through the GSD’s toxic lies.
They saw through the GSD’s poisonous insults
And they saw through the GSD’s Daniel Feetham.
And when they turned to us, they saw something different and genuine.
They saw and recognized our hard work.
They saw and recognized our dedication to delivering our manifesto.
They saw and recognized honest people doing their best for our nation.
Hard work.
Dedication.
Honesty.
That is what we represent.
That is why Gibraltar trusts us.
And that is why we won with such a huge margin less than 10 months ago.
And now what we have to do is ensure we do not squander that win.
We lost in 96 having won big in 92.
But we have learnt the lesson of that time.
And that is why we will not repeat the same mistakes this time.
We will continue to work with a deep sense of honour;
With a deep commitment to honesty; and
With overwhelming humility,
We will deliver on our commitments to our people.
That is our responsibility,
Our obligation, to those who trusted us.
And also to those who did not.
In fact, it is even our duty to deliver for those who lied about us.
For the best way to show that their words were lies is for our actions to demonstrate that our commitments were real.
To make our manifesto promises become our people’s reality.
To make our deeds our response to their defamations.
And it is not going to be easy.
It wasn’t last time when we made a New Dawn rise.
And we banned a bully.
After years of waiting, we naturalized British Citizens and recognized new Gibraltarians.
After years of waiting, we brought a serving Prime Minister to Gibraltar,
And just the fact he was here mattered even though we could not hear his speech that fateful day.
We created new homes and new made real the dreams of almost 1,000 families
And we now have lower unemployment than ever in our history.
144 people unemployed when we inherited over a thousand.
More Gibraltarians in jobs than every before.
And we introduced proper training that has got people into jobs and now we will do more to train people further.
Tomorrow we will open a Chemotherapy suite so that those who need that treatment can have it here in Gibraltar.
Because reflecting on what we have done, does not mean we don’t recognize what we still have left to do.
Because we have done more than anyone thought possible and we will do even more.
We have to do more.
We will introduce better and more advanced training.
We have stabilized the security of our electricity supply.
And in coming months, we will commission a new power station.
We will introduce a new, clean and safe fuel for Gibraltar.
We will finish the most exciting refurbishment of our estates in our history.
We will deliver new schools and work our how to deliver meals to our children.
And all in the context of the strongest public finances our nation has ever had.
That’s why we can say proudly that the minimum wage has gone up every year since we were elected.
It’s gone up by £35 a week or 16.3% in five years.
That’s over 3% a year.
Our schools are being transformed.
Our Bank has opened its doors.
And our University has been established.
Tomorrow I will install the first Chancellor of the University.
Because we are building a new Gibraltar, just like we did in 1988.
So please forgive me if you are waiting to see me but we are trying to deliver across the board to make real the things we promised.
We have done so much but we have so much still to do.
And even the GSD and Mr Feetham now accept that Gibraltar is not bankrupt and is unlikely ever to be, at least whilst we are in control.
At last, he got the memo!
And we will deliver on our manifesto commitments, despite the poisoned invitation not to.
You see in one breath Mr Feetham tells us we should not deliver on our manifesto commitments.
Yet in the next breath he is telling us we are failing for not delivering on our manifesto commitments.
I know it sounds like a joke.
But that is what it’s like to do politics against Mr Feetham.
And as we have delivered our manifesto in the past four years we have faced a belligerent Spain.
But that has not stopped us.
Now, to make things harder…
We face the same Spain and Brexit too.
So let’s be clear …
Gibraltar is facing a WATERSHED moment.
Just like in 1984, when Spain managed to get the Brussels agreement past the UK.
Just like in 1976, when the UK said no to integration.
And that is when we were formed forty years ago.
And just like in each one of those occasions,
Just like every single day of the last forty years,
We will stand together in this party to defend our homeland
Because thanks to BREXIT
We are now facing what Snr Margallo has said is Spain’s best and probably last chance to take the Sovereignty of Gibraltar
That’s why the result of the Referendum was the opposite of what we all wanted.
None of us wanted Brexit.
Because we knew it would lead to an immediate return of the Joint Sovereignty proposal.
In fact, it materialized the very morning of the announcement of the result.
Already we can see it as developing even more as objective of the Partido Popular and our friend Margallo.
Now they say this is their best chance in 300 years to get their hands on our homes.
And they also say this is also very likely the last chance too.
Well, they might as well give up now.
Because we will never cede.
Spain will never progress, advance or prosper in trying to take our home from us.
They will never, ever get closer whilst we have a say in the matter.
But what a good thing that Gibraltar today has a GSLP government and not a GSD Government.
Remember that the GSD started in government ready to attend Brussels talks.
Remember that the GSD in government stood for being prepared to consider an Andorra-style solution.
Remember that the GSD when in government wanted to undo the political essence of National Day.
Although today even the voices of appeasement have been silenced by the belligerence of Snr Margallo.
But Gibraltar today has the comfort that we are in control.
We will always be the last line of defence.
And today we are even more.
Today we are the first line of defence.
So if others want to flip flop on Andorra, on Brussels or anything else, let them.
They are flops anyway.
You know.
And the whole of Gibraltar knows.
When it comes to our Sovereignty, we will never send any signal to Madrid that is not simple, straightforward and impossible to misunderstand.
It's just one word.
It's just two letters.
And it has only one meaning.
N.O.
No.
And in case they don’t understand English, I am going to translate:
NO!
And I wonder what part of "No" or “No” it is that they don't understand.
So if in Madrid they say that Brexit might have been their best and last chance to take Gibraltar.
But they also know that with the GSLP in power, they have NO chance of taking Gibraltar.
They know that whilst the GSLP exists, they have NO chance of taking Gibraltar.
And the GSLP will never ever soften or change.
Because we are the soul of this nation.
For forty years we have been clear about our position.
For forty years we have been the problem for those in London and Madrid who want to defeat our right to decide our future.
And for forty years we have been trusted by Gibraltar.
But we must not live in the past.
We must prepare for the future.
So remember the saying that "Life Begins at Forty"?
Well we are about to prove it.
This forty year old party is just getting started.
And we are going to lead on Constitutional progress in the Select Committee of the House I have convened.
Because we are not going to stand still in the fight to take Gibraltar off the list of Non-Self Governing Territories.
Next week I will be at the United Nations in New York to continue that fight.
Brexit is not going to stop us, nor derail us, nor slow us down!
And we have already started to forge a new future for our nation in the white heat of BREXIT uncertainty.
We have established contact with all decision makers.
We have set out the Gibraltar issue to the new Prime Minister.
We have set out our red lines to the Foreign Secretary and to the Minister for Exiting the EU.
We have built a bridge to the new Mayor of London.
And we are working with the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the issues that Brexit raises for each of us.
And beyond the UK, we have started work in Brussels so people hear the truth from us and not just the lies from Spain.
And we will not stop working.
Working for our children
Working for you
Working for Gibraltar
So please bear with us as we turn the tide.
As we steady the ship.
As we turn the despair of the morning of the 24th of June into the opportunities for a whole new generation of Gibraltarians, new residents and new investors.
That is what this party is about.
Forty years of struggle behind us.
Forty years of experience in Parliament.Forty years of commitment and dedication.
So lets celebrate our anniversary together and lets get to work together.
I am going to propose monthly meetings of activists as we had before on the third Friday of each month.Venue and time to be confirmed.
So that we can also organize our work together.
So that the party becomes as important a part of our work as the government.
So that at forty, we are healthier than ever.
Fitter than ever.
More prepared to meet any challenge than ever.
Because Gibraltar needs us.
Our children need us.
And because we are here to win together.
And we are unbeatable when we are together.
For Gibraltar.
Thank you.
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