Below is the statement delivered in Parliament today by the Chief Minister in support of the motion noting the Report of Sir Peter Openshaw DL in respect of the McGrail Inquiry and the implementation of its recommendations: 

Madam Speaker,

I move the motion standing in my name, which reads as follows:

“THIS HOUSE NOTES the Report of Sir Peter Openshaw DL in respect of the McGrail Inquiry, and, in particular, the recommendations contained therein.”

Madam Speaker,

Section 26 of the Inquiries Act 2024 requires that the Report of any Inquiry be laid on the Table at the first meeting of Parliament after its publication by the Government. For that reason, I laid the Report on the Table at our first meeting of the calendar year.

I also gave notice of this Motion at the same time as I published the Report.

I brought the Report to the House in the spirit of total transparency that has characterised this Government’s approach from the outset. I say that referring both to our attitude during the Inquiry and to the Inquiry Report in equal measure.

Quite unlike others, I, and all other Government Core Participants, cooperated fully with the Inquiry throughout its processes. In an approach unprecedented in our democracy, I facilitated unimpeded access to all my relevant electronic and non-electronic communications.

I knew, and I know, that I had nothing to fear from the things I said, from the things I wrote and from the things I did. Even now, after the publication of the Report, I feel exactly the same way, and I feel vindicated in many respects.

I expect there will be further reason for vindication in the future because, Madam Speaker, it is clear that the Report is only one part of a jigsaw puzzle that still needs to be fully exposed to the people of Gibraltar. A jigsaw puzzle about human rights abuses and allegations of police corruption that, when all is said and done, some traditional warriors for human rights will be seen to have been on the wrong side of.

Madam Speaker, in complete contradiction to the absolutely untrue and spurious suggestions made in the run-up to the publication of the Report, the Government published it in its entirety and without any redactions. We did so exactly as we had always intended.

Yet for months we had to endure the suggestion that we would somehow seek to redact the Report. At one stage, it was even said that we were going to stop the Inquiry proceedings altogether. All because we updated Gibraltar law to be in keeping with UK law.

These were conspiracy theories thrown about by people who should know better, fed to the howling pack of pound-shop wolves on social media. Nothing could have been further from the truth. It never crossed my mind. And we said so.

Still, the spurious allegations continued. Indeed, to borrow a phrase from Alice in Wonderland, a story that many are now referring to in relation to this Report, things did not just get curiouser and curiouser. They got spurioser and spurioser.

There were remarkable suggestions that we would consider using legal powers for political purposes. The wolves howled louder. The keyboards clacked louder still with wilder and wilder theories. One was that I would seek to use powers to delete criticisms of me or of the Government. It never crossed my mind.

Now that the full publication of the Report has occurred and it is laid in this House, those nonsensical criticisms remain on the record, despite being untrue allegations made against a Government that has fully and completely published a Report critical of almost all those referred to in it, including, but not limited to, me.

Yet those who made these spurious allegations feel no compunction to say, at the very least, “sorry, we accept that we got it wrong”. Ironically, many of these are the same voices suggesting that members of the Government should apologise or that I should resign.

One rule for them. One rule for us. I suppose we have to get used to it.

But the fact remains that we published the Inquiry Report in full, online and without redactions. We would have done so earlier but I was incapacitated. We were then asked not to publish until the conclusion of the Inquest into the Deaths at Sea.

If I may say so, Madam Speaker, I was pleased to stand behind the officers in that case, assisting with the funding of it throughout. We published the Report at the first available moment following the Inquest verdict and my return to work.

We worked with the national broadcaster, which transmitted all proceedings live, to ensure that the delivery of the Report and the Government’s reaction to it could be followed by citizens in real time. We provided fulsome disclosure of all relevant data, including my own private electronic communications, because we had, and have, nothing to hide.

The House now knows that the person who called for the Inquiry, Mr McGrail, and the former senior management team of the Royal Gibraltar Police, were not as forthcoming in respect of key items of information required from them. The Report makes this clear.

Day books went missing. Laptops went missing. Mobile phones went missing. Hard drives went missing.

WhatsApp messages emerged only after the main hearings had concluded, requiring the Inquiry to be reconvened at considerable additional public expense. Secret recordings of covertly recorded meetings with the Attorney General and other senior officers were deleted by Mr McGrail in an attempt to conceal the fact that those recordings had taken place.

These are not my words. They are the findings of the Report.

These findings, concerning the senior management of a police force that must command absolute public trust, are devastating. Devastating to that trust, and devastating to our understanding of policing during that period.

This is not something the Government will allow to be swept under the carpet, nor can it be glossed over by focusing solely on criticisms of me contained in the Report.

I make clear that these references concern the former senior leadership of the Royal Gibraltar Police. I have full confidence in the current leadership of the RGP, and in particular in the Commissioner, Owain Richards.

The Inquiry has reached its conclusions. As a mature democracy, we must face the facts, learn the lessons and move forward.

I acknowledge that the Report contains sharp criticisms of me. I have asked that these be considered in the context of the extreme pressures of 2020. I have also been advised that some of the sharpest criticisms are legally unsound, unfair and contradictory. I am finalising my consideration of whether to challenge those findings.

That decision will be taken in accordance with the Rule of Law and, if pursued, will be pursued in Court. It will not distract me from the continuing business of governing this country.

This Report relates to events of six years ago, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, before the New Year’s Eve Framework Agreement was concluded. It concerns the past. My responsibility now is to secure our future.

Crucially, Madam Speaker, the Report completely exonerates the Government from the many spurious allegations made over the past five years. It finds no corrupt interference with police investigations, no conspiracy, no corruption, and no basis for any apology or damages to Mr McGrail.

The Chairman explicitly states:

“I specifically decline to recommend any form of redress, whether by way of apology or compensation.”

No apology. No damages.

However, the Report does contain recommendations to improve governance and administrative procedures. We are already implementing them. Two have already been delivered. Others are underway. A Conflicts of Interest Act is being drafted. Work is progressing on the Ministerial Code. Reforms relating to the governance of the RGP are being advanced in partnership with the Governor and the Gibraltar Police Authority.

This Government is not merely noting the Report. We are acting on it.

Madam Speaker, while some wish to remain trapped in 2020, the people of Gibraltar want their Government focused on today and tomorrow. That is what we are doing.

Despite the noise, my focus is on the final mile of our most important journey: the ratification and implementation of the UK/EU Treaty to secure our post-Brexit future. On housing, on infrastructure, on energy resilience, on economic growth, we continue to deliver.

I will leave office criticised, no doubt, but satisfied that I did my duty to the people of Gibraltar every single day, including the most difficult days of May and June 2020.

For all these reasons, Madam Speaker, I commend that the House NOTE the Inquiry Report and agree to the implementation of its recommendations.