Oct 14 Government and Opposition remain poles apart on Constitution and Cordoba
The latest statement by the Opposition in relation to the 2006 Constitution and the Cordoba agreement has missed the point.
The position of the Government on these two issues remains unchanged.
The Government does not believe that the 2006 Constitution represents the maximum level of self-government short of independence. It represents the maximum level that could be extracted from the United Kingdom in the Constitutional negotiations which took place at that time. There are further steps between the present Constitution and independence. Indeed, the full proposals contained in the House of Assembly Select Committee Report of 1999, which were then watered down in those talks, is an example of such a step.
The Chief Minister was simply making the point in Washington, which had been made several times in the past, in the context of the requirements of the United Nations for the removal of Gibraltar from the UN list of colonies.
Immediately after his speech at the UN, the Chief Minister held a meeting with Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the British Ambassador to the UN at which Mr Picardo briefed the Ambassador on the current issues affecting Gibraltar.
With a visit to the UN and a conference with the Council on Foreign Relations under their belts, the six local students that were chosen to accompany the Government delegation to the New York this week, explained that they had really enjoyed the meetings, especially at the UN.
