The GSD has expressed surprise at the fact that “arrangements were not made” for the European Scrutiny Committee to meet and exchange views with the official Opposition. The party says it was not even aware of the visit of the UK MPs until it learnt of the reason for the adjournment of the committee stage reading of the Appropriation Bill on Tuesday.

“It is odd that the Opposition was not advised of the visit nor invited to meet the Committee which, ironically, is, in itself, a cross-party parliamentary group.

“Moreover, we have since learnt that time was found for the visiting delegation to meet with the GFSB and Chamber of Commerce but yet no time was found for Gibraltar’s parliamentary representatives, other than those on the government side,” said Damon Bossino.

“From a Gibraltar perspective, this omission represented a lost opportunity to put forward an alternative viewpoint on the important issue which is Gibraltar’s post-Brexit future.”