The Chief Minister delivered a strong message to the EU during yesterday’s May Day rally following the publication on Saturday of the bloc’s final negotiating guidelines.

Mr Picardo said: “If anybody thinks that they can discriminate against the people of Gibraltar and that we’ll take it lying down, they’ve got something else coming.”

He said his government would never accept any “discrimination or prejudice” against the people of Gibraltar by the European Union.

Mr Picardo warned that any such attempt would be met with “the principle of reciprocity: what they do unto us we will do unto them and theirs!”

He also reaffirmed his pledge not to allow Brexit to be used to undermine workers’ rights:

“There will never be any erosion of workers’ rights in Gibraltar. Brexit is happening and I’m back here today to start making that commitment for the future now that we know we’re leaving the European Union. In this nation there will never be an erosion of existing workers’ rights – ever – Europe or no Europe.”

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