The Government says that statements made by Damon Bossino to GBC on Gibraltar’s grey listing "demonstrate a staggering lack of knowledge in respect of this serious and important matter.”

A statement continued: "The statements made worryingly suggest the GSD opposition do not understand what is happening. Again, they simply do not do their homework and Gibraltar and in particular the financial services industry is put in harms way yet again.

"The legal position in the United Kingdom is that any Country listed on FATF’s grey list is automatically placed on the UK’s list of countries with high risk, and as soon as that Country is removed from the FATF grey list, they are automatically removed from the UK list also. Mr Bossino is a lawyer and he should know that, and not be making public statements as wrong and inaccurate as the ones he made yesterday."

Minister for Financial Services Albert Isola said, “I find it remarkable that Mr Bossino makes wholly inaccurate and misleading statements on matters as important as the FATF, without a care or concern as to whether they are right or wrong. We have already explained clearly what the position is in our statement this week; has he not seen it? I have been at pains to explain the support we have received from HM Treasury and continue to have in this matter, and we are most grateful to them for this. To suggest otherwise as Mr Bossino has is wrong, unhelpful and certainly not in Gibraltar’s best interests.”