According to numerous press reports, Spain is set to close the Gibraltar branch of the Instituto Cervantes. The Spanish cultural centre, located in Cloister Building in Market Lane, opened four years ago as part of the 2006 Cordoba Agreement.

According to the Spanish Government, the existence of a Gibraltar branch of the Instituto is a tacit acceptance that Gibraltar is not Spanish territory. Mr Margallo also said that there was little point in having such a cultural centre in a community where “everyone speaks Spanish apart from the monkeys.”

The director of the local branch, Francisco Oda, has not yet made a statement on the closure.