The GSD has this evening said that Fabian Picardo is “increasingly desperate.”

A statement continued: “In one of his election press conferences he is continuing to peddle the nonsense that Keith Azopardi is soft on Spain and according to him that it is dangerous to elect Mr Azopardi for that reason. 

“We have set out clearly how Keith Azopardi specifically and unequivocally rejected an Andorra solution for Gibraltar in a 2011 debate at which Mr Picardo was present and nodded in agreement.” 

Keith Azopardi said: “How many times is Mr Picardo going to lie or mislead people on this issue. He knows I said in 2011 that: 

“My view is very specific on Andorra. It is not a solution for Gibraltar....the Andorra solution is never going to be a model for Gibraltar. Let me make that very very clear.” 

"If it is true that Spain avidly read what I say then they will know that I ruled out an Andorra solution for Gibraltar. They would also know we think Mr Picardo’s 2019 Tax Treaty was a shoddy concessionary deal. 

“This is the same tactic the old GSLP tried with Peter Caruana in 1996 and that Mr Picardo rolled out in 2011 against Sir Peter Caruana. This is just the same old card from the old tired GSLP playbook. And it is a disgrace of course that people who know me will not believe. After 30 years in politics people know where I stand on Spain. I was there and worked very hard to defeat joint sovereignty in 2002. Where was Mr Picardo then? 

“This is just a smokescreen. The reality is that he has a litany of failures in his wake. High debt, an inability or worse still an unwillingness to control waste, abuse and corruption and a track record of failure on Brexit. He can’t deliver the basics to people – clean streets, affordable housing on time or services that work efficiently. All he has left is to distract from the issues. We will not allow him to do so.”