Sep 30 - William Hague's Speech At Gibraltar Reception
Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon William Hague's speech to Gibraltar reception at Conservative Party Conference 2013:
Welcome everyone to the Gibraltar Reception. I hope you’re all enjoying yourselves as much as I am and I am delighted to be here with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Mr Fabian Picardo. Let’s give him a warm welcome to Manchester.
This is, of course, a special year for Gibraltar because it is the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Utrecht, which made Gibraltar officially British. So Gibraltar has been British for longer than most countries in the world have been in existence. I must admit we haven’t abided by every clause of that Treaty – we’ve welcomed Jews and Moors to settle on the Rock – and that’s another reason to be proud of Gibraltar.
So after 300 years of British Gibraltar we can look to another 300 years of British Gibraltar. As the Prime Minister said at Gibraltar National Day, ‘let’s keep it that way’.
It’s a great anniversary but as we all know it hasn’t been an easy year for Gibraltar, because of a certain neighbouring Government’s behaviour. There have been border delays for up to seven hours at times. There have been frequent illegal incursions by Spanish vessels. Even goods like sand and concrete have been prevented from entering Gibraltar. There have been threats of further action – on taxation, at the UN, at the airport. That has all been wholly unacceptable.
Gibraltarians, of course, have had to endure a great deal of unpleasantness because of this, as have the thousands of Spanish commuters who benefit from employment in Gibraltar.
Let me be clear: these measures are disproportionate, unlawful under EU law and quite obviously politically motivated. They were introduced immediately after the lawful creation by the Government of Gibraltar of an artificial reef in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters to protect the marine environment, a reef identical to many others that have been created around, shall we say, the Mediterranean’s north-western coast.
As the Prime Minister said in his video message to Gibraltar on National Day, Gibraltarians have faced these challenges with enormous dignity.
I’m sure that dignity was made easier by Gibraltarians’ well-earned self-confidence: Gibraltar’s economy continues to grow, in spite of economic troubles in many other parts of Europe. Gibraltar’s unemployment figures are very low indeed.
Gibraltar, and the other Overseas Territories/Crown Dependencies, are delivering on the tax and transparency commitments they made before the G8 Summit. As the Prime Minister recently said, it is no longer fair to refer to any of the overseas territories or Crown dependencies as tax havens. The Crown dependencies and overseas territories, Gibraltar included, which matter so much to the British people, have done what was needed and should be backed for it.
The Government of the United Kingdom has responded to Spanish pressure strongly. We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Government of Gibraltar. Because of the sins of Labour foreign office ministers I am afraid the Foreign Office has been regarded with some suspicion in Gibraltar. Indeed one of those ministers, Peter Hain, is still saying sovereignty over Gibraltar should be shared with Spain. I think that’s what you call a very slow learner.
Unlike him, we recognise democracy and the people of Gibraltar could not have made their democratic wishes plainer when eleven years ago 98.8 per cent of them voted to stay British.
The relationship between the Foreign Office and Gibraltar is now the best it’s been in a long time. The Chief Minister is now personally acquainted with the entire Gibraltar team. And hundreds of our diplomats across the globe have been defending Gibraltar’s case in every corner of the world this summer, most recently our team at the UN in New York just days ago. We will stick up for Gibraltar.
Our joint aim is to ensure that Gibraltarians can go about their business unhampered and free from intimidation, and to uphold the rights and interests of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom.
It is good news that, as we requested, the European Commission sent a monitoring mission to the border with to investigate the delays that appeared so suddenly this summer. The people of Gibraltar have their EU rights and Spain must respect them.
We remain committed to a diplomatic solution. Gibraltar and the territorial waters are going to stay British but everyone benefits by being good neighbours. Spain is an important ally and hundreds of thousands of Britons love living and holidaying there. So we’re pleased that we have had some constructive exchanges with them. We expect to start “ad hoc” talks soon as a way of enabling all relevant parties to explore differences. But this does not weaken our commitment to a Trilateral Forum of Dialogue between the UK, Gibraltar and Spain.
We will continue to respect the wishes of the people of Gibraltar. We will never agree to any transfer of sovereignty – or even start a process of negotiation of sovereignty, not that I ever would – without their consent. And we will take whatever action is necessary to safeguard Gibraltar, its people and its economy.
As the Prime Minister told the people of Gibraltar, let’s look to the future: we want a confident, flourishing, secure Gibraltar with good, constructive relationships with all its neighbours in the region – north and south. That’s best for everyone and I hope that by the time of this Reception next year we’ll have made some progress towards it. But no matter what, we’ll stand by the people of Gibraltar.
