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Jan 16 - New Year’s Message From Keith Azopardi

This is the full text of the New Year’s Message from GSD Leader Keith Azopardi. The message was delivered yesterday evening on GBC.

When I last spoke to you it was before Christmas and just after the GSD Leadership election. Then, I explained how I saw the task ahead in the context of the renewal and re-energising of the GSD. That work has started and I want to see a rebuilt and stronger GSD that once again is entrusted with the governance of this community. That GSD that we aspire to energise will – as before – be the natural home for the moderate centre-ground of Gibraltar politics. It will represent the traditional and core values of the Party: fiscal prudence, socially progressive, economic liberalism, reforming democratic governance and a robust defence of our homeland. That Party will be open to and represent all sectors of this community. And in that transformative process I hope to encourage the renewed participation of members and former members who took a step back from active involvement as well as attract new members to our refreshed political platform.

Today and as part of my New Year’s message I want to set out my view on some of the important issues of the day in response to the Chief Minister’s message of a few days ago.

There is no doubt that navigating BREXIT and the consequences of BREXIT is the most important issue in the 12 months that lie ahead. It is the most important issue because it will influence our economy, the social projects we can undertake and potentially affect our way of life. It is therefore crucial that we are successful in this task. Nothing less will do.

The first step is to ensure that Gibraltar is extended any beneficial transitional deal and any eventual beneficial trade deal that the UK strikes with the EU. So far the assurances of Prime Minister May in the UK Parliament have fallen well short of the categorical promises that we need. She has said that Gibraltar is included in the negotiations that the UK is conducting with the EU. But including us in the negotiations is not the same as including us in a beneficial agreement. It is simply not good enough. The UK’s public assurances need to be clearer and her resolve more robust.

And no deal can be done unless it has the express consent of the Government and people of Gibraltar. Our Government must be involved as a key participant in any discussions. We need to ensure that the UK stands by Gibraltar in a committed way and does not let us down at the eleventh hour. We need to stand firm as a united community to make sure that does not happen. We have done so before and can do so again.

Spain are already making noises that they consider that it is up to them whether a beneficial agreement is extended to Gibraltar. Subjecting Gibraltar and our future to the whim of Spain is completely unacceptable as is the concept that our future should be decided bilaterally between Britain and Spain. Our future and whether any agreement is entered into can only be decided by Gibraltar and its Government.

The latest EU negotiating mandate makes clear that there are clouds on the horizon. As you know Paragraph 24 of the Negotiating Guidelines published in April stated that “after the UK leaves the EU no agreement between the EU and the UK may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between Spain and the UK.” In the Mandate published in December the EU has reiterated that and stated in Article 5 of the Annex to its Negotiating Mandate that this applies to the negotiations “including as regards the territorial scope of the withdrawal agreement, including its provisions on transitional arrangements and of the future framework....notably as regards Gibraltar.”

It is therefore clearly the case that for the EU there is a willingness to subject the extension of transitional arrangements or a future trade deal to Gibraltar to a bilateral agreement between Britain and Spain. This is wholly unacceptable.

We must therefore stay vigilant over the next 12 months. As we enter this crucial period of negotiations with the EU we must keep the pressure on the UK Government with the help of our friends in the UK Parliament. The Gibraltar Government needs to ensure it leaves no stone unturned in its efforts and that it is guaranteed that it will not only participate but determine what decisions are taken for Gibraltar. There is no more important task in the year ahead.

For our part the GSD will remain alive to these threats and responsive to developments. We are ready to participate in any united front that is necessary in the public interest of Gibraltar.

Domestically and while the Government has given us a positive outlook of the work it is doing the reality is rather different on the ground for many people. We receive many approaches from people who suffer deficiencies in healthcare, poor housing conditions or failures in social care. Much more needs to be done to improve public services and modernize them. Sometimes there are resources issues. But other times the improvements cannot just be achieved by throwing money at the problem. They require a more deep- rooted comprehensive approach that changes the way services are delivered. That is so in health, education, care and housing. It affects families that suffer drug problems, health or mental health issues or domiciliary care problems.

Equally we need a new and better approach to the interface between planning, land use, development and heritage. It is not good enough to complacently rely on the fact that some beneficial reforms to the planning process may have been made. We need to be much more conscious about properly planning the urban needs of this community and setting out a long-term and less reactive strategy for development. And the Government must lead by example by not conducting development on heritage sites or in a way that may encroach on heritage assets. Tourism is a pillar to our economy and we need to safeguard and conserve our heritage assets that are an integral part of this aspect of our economy.

We continue to be concerned about the management of public finances and the levels of borrowing undertaken by the Government. These are unprecedented and in our view both lack in transparency and are not a prudent way of handling our financial affairs. There needs to be a focused debt reduction and debt management programme that openly accounts for all public income, expenditure and borrowing. We will continue to hold the Government to account on these issues as we consider that there is a much better way of managing public monies.

On the subject of accountability we are also concerned that the allocation of contracts is conducted properly. The procurement of public contracts for services that ultimately will be paid from tax-payer pounds needs to be open, transparent, fair and accountable. There need to be clearly justifiable reasons for the allocation of contracts to particular companies and those awarded contracts can expect public scrutiny if unjustifiable decisions are taken.

We are positive about Gibraltar’s future but consider that our affairs should be handled better. We will not shirk from questioning and constructively criticising Government on such matters.

You can rest assured that as the Opposition we will work hard to making the future of this community more prosperous, fair and just so that there are equal opportunities for all, employment, training or education opportunities for those who need it and better healthcare, social care or housing.

On behalf of myself and all my colleagues I wish you and your families a happy and healthy 2018.



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