Nov 27 - Lidington Tells Commons Diplomatic Bag Incident was a Junior Operational Error
Following yesterday’s report that Guardia Civil officers at the Gibraltar Spain Frontier opened a bag belonging to a Diplomat, the Minister for Europe in the UK, David Lidington today announced that the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recognised that the bag was in fact a Diplomatic bag. They also reassured the UK that there would not be a repeat of these actions.
Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, during Urgent Questions on Diplomatic Relations with Spain, Minister Lidington insisted that any infringement of the Vienna Convention is ‘taken very seriously’. He added that the Government was maintaining strong pressure on Spain to de-escalate the current tensions with Gibraltar.
The session saw various MPs from across the political party spectrum touch upon the seriousness of this incident. Minister Lidington insisted that the Spanish Government claimed it was an error made at junior operational level. Once a senior official at the Frontier realised what was going on, he put a stop to the interference.
Commenting on the matter during the weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron explained that the incident breached the principle of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations and was an extremely serious matter. He added that the UK Government will ‘always stand up for the rights of the people of Gibraltar and for the Sovereignty of Gibraltar.
Sir Gerald Kaufman, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton told the Chamber that the incident followed a whole succession of harassment. He claimed that the UK Government’s soft approach on Spain ‘is not working’. He went on to say that if another similar incident were to occur, the Spanish Ambassador should be expelled from the Country. David Lidington responded by saying that a repetition of this incident would be ‘of the utmost seriousness’. The Minister explained that evidence of the Government’s approach working was seen when the Oceanographic Survey vessel ‘Ramon Margalef’ ended its incursion in Gibraltar waters following protests from the UK Government and the summoning of the Spanish Ambassador.
Former Labour Europe Minister Peter Hain urged Minister Lidington to revisit his work on the possibility of shared sovereignty of Gibraltar between the UK and Spain. Lidington insisted that he did not believe that Mr. Hain’s example worked, and instead added to the sense of mistrust in Gibraltar, towards the intensions of the British Government. He added that he’d like to see the UK, Spain and Gibraltar come together through the ad-hoc talks proposal that Foreign Minister William Hague proposed in 2012.
