Oct 25 - Gibraltar Continues High Level UK Meetings
The Government says it notes the “ill-informed media comment” in Spain suggesting that Gibraltar has somehow been excluded from the meeting being held in London yesterday between the First Ministers of each of the Devolved Parliaments of the home nations of the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister.
Number Six says that this meeting is held under the existing arrangements agreed in October 2013 under the "Devolution, Memorandum of Understanding and Supplementary Agreements".
These agreements specifically provided then for liaison between the Devolved Administrations and Her Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom on matters related to the European Union.
The Government says that this is not, therefore, a new Brexit forum that has been created to the exclusion of Gibraltar, but an existing forum which is being convened to deal with the Brexit issue.
A statement continued: “The position of Gibraltar is materially different in many respects to those of the Devolved Administrations and to those of the Crown Dependencies and the other Overseas Territories.
“Gibraltar will be holding continuing separate meetings at a ministerial level and official level in respect of the specific requirements that Gibraltar will be seeking to have accommodated in partnership with the United Kingdom in the context of Brexit.
“In respect of Gibraltar, the 2006 Constitution specifically provides (at Section 47(3)) that EU matters are not considered to be matters of "external relations" where they are within the competence of Gibraltar ministers.
“The Deputy Chief Minister and the Attorney General were in London yesterday meeting senior officials in The Department for Exiting the European Union and others to continue the work being done by the Government on Brexit.”
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: "The meetings in London were held under existing arrangements. We have not been left out of any new Brexit forum created for the Devolved Administrations. I am totally satisfied that we are being fully involved in respect of the relevant decision making on Brexit. Our requirements going forward are being understood and we are making important progress on many areas already. It is best, however, if we are discreet in how we announce the fruits of the work we are doing. The work we are doing for Gibraltar is a marathon and not a sprint. The Deputy Chief Minister and the Attorney General were both in London on Monday holding detailed meetings on Brexit related matters with senior officials in DEXEU and other departments. It is that type of detailed work in which we must also engage in now to ensure we are in pole position for people to understand the things that will be essential for Gibraltar going forward."
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