| Good evening.
Gibraltar has received with understandable
and justified anger and dismay the statement by the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in the
House of Commons on Friday 12th July.
In that statement Mr Straw told Parliament
that even though there was not yet any overall agreement with Spain, the UK and Spain
were, nevertheless, "in broad agreement on many of the principles that should
underpin a lasting settlement" and that these included "the principle that
Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar." In an interview with
Spain’s "El Pais" Newspaper today Mr Hain confirms that they have already
reached agreement on the principle of sovereignty.
I have already said publicly, both here and
in the UK, that in my judgement Mr Straw’s statement constitutes a gratuitous
betrayal of our political rights and legitimate aspirations as a people. The only
principle that should underpin the future of Gibraltar is unqualified respect for our
right to freely and democratically decide our own future, free of harassment, threats and
cajoling. The sovereignty of Gibraltar is not negotiable against the wishes of the people
of Gibraltar and without our consent.
Mr Straw’s statement is especially a
betrayal and violation of our right to self determination because if the British
Government really believed that Gibraltar has the right to self determination (even if
not, according to them, to independence), it would not feel free to transact our
sovereignty politically, even in principle, against our wishes.
By his statement, Mr Straw has asserted that,
in effect, our right to self determination is limited to the right to say no to the
practical implementation of an Anglo-Spanish Agreement based on the principle of
joint sovereignty. Our right does not apparently extend even to disentitling the British
Government from reaching agreements about the principles applicable to our sovereignty and
our other political rights against our wishes.
Mr Straw has also legitimised, in the eyes of
the international community, Spain’s anachronistic and democratically indefensible
sovereignty claim; he would thus convert the people of Gibraltar into little more than
privileged squatters in our own homeland and he further risks converting us into the
"unreasonable party" in the eyes of the international community if we do not go
along with his pre-determined "done deal" on joint sovereignty.
Joint sovereignty with Spain is not
acceptable to Gibraltar. This apart, the concept of joint sovereignty is politically and
legally misconceived. It is tantamount to permanent colonial status, and has had no
successful application anywhere before. Of course, the British Government understands that
joint sovereignty as a concept is a dangerous non-sense. That is why Madrid Ambassador
Peter Torry says that to properly protect British interests and run a military base there
can be "only one person in charge." Precisely so. But why does he think that
this sound principle doesn’t also apply to the rest of Gibraltar? Surely he must
understand that joint sovereignty means "two persons ultimately in charge"!
Clearly the British Government does not believe that was is sauce for the goose is sauce
for the gander.
The Gibraltar Government’s view that Mr
Straw’s declaration represents a betrayal of our rights as a people is shared widely
by all political parties in Gibraltar, by many members of Parliament across all political
parties in the UK, by most UK newspapers, and by the overwhelming majority of British
public opinion.
Since November last year, the Gibraltar
Government has been engaged in an intense political campaign against the British
Government making in principle concessions to Spain against our wishes. I have appeared,
last November, before the Foreign Affairs Committee, in a session also addressed by Mr
Hain; I have conducted hundreds of radio, television and newspaper interviews; a detailed
briefing paper has been prepared and circulated to all Labour MPs in answer to a
Parliamentary Labour Party briefing document; we have conducted an extensive newspaper
advertising campaign in the UK; I have made numerous private appeals to FCO ministers and
officials; the whole of Gibraltar demonstrated on the 18th March asking Mr
Straw not to make in-principle concessions against our wishes.
I am clear in my own mind that we have done
everything humanly possible to lobby against a done deal on principles. I believe that our
efforts have met with substantial success. We have succeeded in making this a national
issue in the UK. The majority of the UK media has swung behind Gibraltar; we have enjoyed
unprecedented levels of parliamentary support; the Conservative party has condemned the
deal and made it clear that, when returned to office, will repudiate any joint sovereignty
agreement; the British Public has mobilised in support of Gibraltar. Opinion poll after
opinion poll has shown around 80% of the British public opposed to the British
Government’s actions; our advertising campaign has now attracted nearly half a
million letters of support.
Despite all of this, and ignoring all the
pleas that he has heard from Gibraltar, Mr Straw has proceeded to agree with Spain the
principle of joint sovereignty. It doesn’t matter that there is not yet any overall
agreement. The political damage to Gibraltar and our political rights as a people has been
done by his statement in Parliament that Britain has agreed the principle of joint
sovereignty. Arguably, the fact that there is no overall agreement is, if that is
possible, worse, because Spain has not even been required to concede anything in exchange
for the massive political concession that Mr Straw has, quite unnecessarily, made about
our sovereignty.
We do not know for sure, one way or the
other, if they will reach an overall agreement of principles. That appears to depend on a
series of so-called "red line issues", non of which are relevant to our
underlying and fundamental objection to joint sovereignty. But as an aside comment, it
seems that even in respect of these so-called "red line issues", the lines are
becoming distinctly pink. The referendum will be delayed for "several years"
after the joint declaration; the insistence on exclusive British sovereignty of the
military base has become joint sovereignty of the land, but exclusive British control of
the base on it, and Spain will be free to share its use; and the insistence that the deal
be permanent and "not a slippery slope to full Spanish Sovereignty" has become a
statement by Mr Hain today in the "El Pais" Article that "a permanent
agreement is an agreement which lasts until another thing replaces it."
In my judgement, and in that of my
ministerial colleagues, it is not in Gibraltar’s interests simply to let matters rest
with Mr Straw’s statement. Even if he does not conclude an overall agreement of
principles, the political damage is, as I have said, already done by his statement that,
as a matter of policy, the British Government is willing and has broadly agreed to share
sovereignty. We cannot risk being seen to have acquiesed in his declaration. If we do, the
political ground conceded will be consolidated, irretrievably and for all time.
I have said on several occasions before now
that if the British Government conceeded the principle of joint sovereignty and delayed in
staging a referendum, we would conduct a referendum ourselves. Our analysis is this. If Mr
Straw does not conclude an overall agreement of principles, the political
concession on sovereignty contained in his statement will nevertheless remain on the table
to our prejudice, and a referendum will never be held by UK unless and until the
matter is revisited and resuscitated in the distant future. If he does conclude an
agreement, then by his own admission a referendum will only be held after many years, and
following a detailed negotiation involving the Gibraltar Government that he knows will not
take place. So again, the joint sovereignty concession will remain on the table
indefinitely without a referendum! And even if the UK eventually does a referendum, the
in-principle concession of sovereignty and other principles agreed will not be put
to referendum and will remain politically valid, even after a referendum, as a matter of
British Government policy. This has been confirmed this week by British Ambassador to
Madrid, Peter Torry. This "catch 22" scenario is the unacceptable political
scheme and design that lies at the very root of this Anglo-Spanish negotiation.
Accordingly, after careful consideration and
weighing up of the pros and cons, and after wide consultation in Gibraltar and amongst our
friends and supporters outside Gibraltar, the Government has decided that we will conduct
our own referendum. The purpose of this is to make Gibraltar’s view on joint or any
Spanish Sovereignty absolutely clear in a democratically conventional manner. This will
deprive Mr Straw’s statement of the 12th July, and any future actions
based thereon (for example a joint declaration), of all democratic legitimacy in the
context of Gibraltar’s political rights and wishes. Mr Straw and Mr Hain may say that
they will not accept this legally because implementation of a deal may require UK
legislation and therefore the UK must organise the referendum. This is a complete and
ridiculous red herring. The need for UK legislation will not arise. The British Government
will not be able to deny that, for political purposes, our referendum will
constitute the freely and democratically expressed wishes of the people of Gibraltar. Any
attempt to deny it will lack democratic and political credibility.
The Referendum (which will be supervised by a
number of unimpeachable international observers) will take place as soon as logistically
possible. There is a lot of preparatory work to do. I expect the Referendum to be in late
October. The precise date will be announced later. Preparatory work will start
immediately. Much needs to be done. Decisions have to be made about the exact nature of
the question and about who will be eligible to vote. Voting lists have to be prepared,
international observers have to be approached, arrangements have to be made to allow
Gibraltarians abroad to vote by post, and many other administrative issues have to be
addressed. I shall, next week, appoint a Committee to oversee the arrangements for the
referendum.
In addition to staging this referendum, the
Gibraltar Government will continue and widen its political campaign through a series of
other measures: -
- I will renew my request for access to the Prime Minister, Tony
Blair;
- I have sought invitations to address the party conferences of
all the main political parties in the UK this Autumn. Already the Conservative Party has
invited me to address their full Party Conference.
We will seek to establish politically active "Gibraltar
Support Groups" throughout the UK in all major towns, cities and rural areas, and in
each European Union member state;
We will set up a public support register in the UK to enable
people to register their support for Gibraltar on a continuous basis and to establish the
largest possible data base of supporters in the UK for future lobbying use;
So far our political campaign to win the hearts and minds of
ordinary citizens has been focused on the UK. This will now be extended, initially to
Spain and subsequently throughout Europe. There will be no political hiding place for
those who would trample on our democratic right as a people to decide our own future, free
of harassment, threats and duress and in accordance with our right to self determination.
The Government has decided that there is
little point, at this stage, in holding further mass demonstrations, like the one on 18th
March. Instead, National Day this year will focus especially on our rejection of joint
sovereignty, as well as the usual theme of self determination. I hope that as many people
as possible will therefore stay in Gibraltar this year on 10th September and
take part in this event.
In advance of the Referendum, I hope to be
able to agree with other political parties and representative bodies the text of a
"Declaration of Rejection" of Mr Straw’s joint sovereignty declaration,
which we shall be able to use for lobbying and publicity purposes in the UK and elsewhere.
Throughout the years that I have been in
office, I have made the Government’s position on dialogue perfectly clear on numerous
occasions. We favour reasonable, open agenda dialogue. We believe that this pro-dialogue
stance is both desirable in itself and necessary to retain the support of our political
friends and the general public in the UK. It is also necessary in order to enable us to
continue to occupy the moral high ground in this matter.
But we have also spelt out what reasonable
dialogue means. It must be safe and dignified. This requires that we should have our own
separate voice and that no agreement should be reached without the Gibraltar
Government’s agreement. These have been our two long standing conditions going back
to 1996. These conditions were and remain, in our judgement, necessary to enable
Gibraltar’s safe participation in talks because they enable the Gibraltar Government
to fully protect Gibraltar.
Because the second condition has not been
met, we have not attended talks. The wisdom of our position has been demonstrated by
recent events. Had we been participating in the current talks with both our conditions, we
would have been able to prevent the joint sovereignty agreement. Had we been participating
without our conditions, that agreement would have emerged from a dialogue legitimised by
our presence. This, of course, is the reason why the Foreign Office has refused to meet
our second condition. It would have enabled us to frustrate the essesential scheme that
they had already planned and agreed with Spain.
We have also always made it equally clear
that dialogue must be on an open agenda basis. That will remain the position. And so the
Government will not participate in any process of dialogue that is pre-determined
to result in the transfer to Spain of any share of the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
Accordingly, even if we have our separate
voice at talks, and even if we had our second condition, namely, that there should be no
agreements at those talks over the head of the Gibraltar Government, we could not
and will not participate in any dialogue governed by or connected to, Mr
Straw’s Declaration. Why? Because having agreed the principle of joint-sovereignty he
has now pre-determined the outcome of future talks in a wholly unacceptable manner. The
talks are no longer on an open agenda basis.
Accordingly, whilst the Gibraltar
Government’s position on dialogue remains unchanged, it is deeply regrettable that Mr
Straw’s illconceived Declaration has put our participation in dialogue even further
away than it was before. The open-agenda would now have to be effectively restored. This
would require an abandonment by the British Government of the joint sovereignty agreement
and of negotiations on the transfer of sovereignty to Spain. This does not just apply to
the Brussels Process, but indeed to any and all dialogue.
Several things said by Mr Straw to Parliament
on Friday 12th July, and indeed to the Foreign Affairs Committee when he have
evidence to them on 19th June, will not be recognisable to people in Gibraltar
or to informed people elsewhere.
For example, Mr Straw repeatedly says that
our conditions for participation in dialogue have been met and that he cannot therefore
understand why we have not attended the talks. This is simply not true. In January this
year the Foreign Office, after 6 years, eventually offered an acceptable "two flags,
three voices" formula to deliver a separate voice and therefore satisfaction of our first
condition. But our second condition, - no agreements without Gibraltar’s
Government’s consent – was flatly refused. He knows this, so it is inexplicable
that he should say otherwise. The same applies to Mr Hain.
Mr Straw also told Parliament that virtually
everyone to whom he had spoken in Gibraltar recognised that shared sovereignty would lead
to more control for Gibraltarians over their own lives. I doubt very much that this could
be true, but the Referendum will give us all an opportunity to put the issue beyond
reasonable doubt.
When I made a ministerial broadcast on the 12th
November 2001, I said that where a violation of our legal rights was open to legal
challenge we would mount such challenge. Legal opinions have already been obtained on the
issues of self determination, our exclusion from Single Skies and other issues. Legal
opinions will now be sought specifically in relation to the consequences of Mr
Straw’s joint sovereignty statement. The Government will issue whatever legal
proceedings, in whatever forum, whether national or international courts or tribunals, as
we are properly advised are open to us with a reasonable prospect of success. Here too, I
am forming a local legal committee to co-ordinate and steer such possible legal actions.
It would, however, be a error of judgement to
believe that we can rely exclusively or even substantially on this course of action.
Litigation is, at best, an uncertain course of action. We should regard it, at best, as an
additional string in our bow. But I believe that if it succeeds, the political rewards for
Gibraltar will be great.
I know that there are many and varying
political views and issues in Gibraltar. I also appreciate that Opposition parties have a
job to do and that it is important for our democracy that they do it. But there are many
vital issues, such as sovereignty, upon which most of us agree. The Government has the
democratic electoral responsibility to conduct Gibraltar’s affairs. We are doing the
best that we can in accordance with our best judgements and within the limits of our human
and material resources. I hope that as many political parties, groups and people in
Gibraltar will swing behind the Government of the day, on this vital issue, at this
crucial time. Division will only assist others at our expense.
I know that most of you fully understand the
difference between our campaign to prevent politically damaging declarations of principle,
on the one hand, and the fact of our referendum veto on practical implementation of any
Anglo-Spanish agreements, on the other hand. And that therefore you fully understand and
appreciate that nothing can happen in practice unless Gibraltar approves it in referendum.
But as I speak to people in Gibraltar, it is apparent to me that some people are still
worrying about actual implementation of Spanish Sovereignty.
I would therefore just like to repeat, that
Mr Straw’s statement on 12th July, or even if he signs a joint declaration
of principles, does not mean that actual Spanish joint sovereignty is a reality in
practice. Actual implementation of any agreement, that is joint sovereignty in practice,
is only possible if the people of Gibraltar approve it in referendum. I believe that there
is absolutely no prospect whatsoever of that happening. The importance of continuing with
our campaign is to do all that we can to ensure that our political rights as a people are
preserved and not violated.
Good Evening. |