During the Second World War, the bulk of Gibraltar’s civilian population was evacuated for security reasons. An initial evacuation to French Morocco had to be terminated after a few months due to the deterioration of relations between Britain and the Vichy Government of France. The civilians were then re-evacuated to Britain, Jamaica and Madeira. Some went to Tangier and Spain under their own steam. Repatriation began in 1944, but due to accommodation difficulties in Gibraltar the last repatriates did not return until 1951.

The experience gained by some evacuees in the fight for better conditions for themselves and for their compatriots gave a substantial impetus to the demand for greater self-government in the Colony. The Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights was formed at the end of 1942 and in 1945 the City Council was reconstituted, for the first time with an elected majority.

The Governor’s monopoly of legislative authority ended 5 years later with the formation of a Legislative Council, and subsequent amendments allowed for a majority of elected Members in this assembly.

The post-war years were also marked by considerable expansion and progress in the social and economic spheres. In the social sphere, Medical, Educational, Housing and Social Security Services were developed.

The building of an airfield on the isthmus, the great construction achievement of World War Two, was to have important repercussions in peacetime. That airfield is now used extensively by civilian operators and, combined with the existing and expanding land and sea travel facilities, has made Gibraltar a centre of communications for the Mediterranean between Europe and Africa. It also helped to make tourism an important pillar of the Rock’s economy.

Early in September 1963, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation considered a proposal, sponsored by a number of members, that the future of Gibraltar should be discussed between Britain and Spain. On the 17 September, the Committee having agreed that representatives from Gibraltar should appear before it as petitioners, the Chief Member of the Legislative Council Joshua Hassan and the Member for Education Peter Isola flew to New York to explain the wishes of the people of Gibraltar.

The delegation made it clear to the Committee that Gibraltar had already achieved a very large measure of internal self-government, that further constitutional changes were under discussion, and that the ultimate aspiration of the people was to achieve full internal self-government by means of a free association with Britain. The suggestion that the sovereignty of Gibraltar should be discussed with Spain was vigorously resisted.

On their return from New York the delegates were welcomed by a massive demonstration of support in which virtually the whole population took part.

The debate was resumed in September 1964. The representatives from Gibraltar once again made it clear to the Committee that the people of Gibraltar had achieved a very large measure of internal self-government and that they wished to continue in close association with Britain. They again strongly resisted the Spanish claim to Gibraltar.

On 16 October, 1964, the Committee adopted a consensus – which did not however, meet with the full agreement of either the British or the Australian delegates – to the effect that Britain and Spain should hold conversations in order to find a negotiated solution to the problems raised by Spain concerning Gibraltar.

On the 17 October, the Spanish Government began a series of restrictive measures at the Gibraltar frontier which were later gradually intensified, and which compelled Britain to state that the conversations recommended by the Committee of 24 could not be held so long as the Spanish attempt to influence the situation through the application of the restriction continued. Spanish measures against Gibraltar were subsequently intensified.

In July 1965 the elected members in the Legislature agreed that, in the situation created by the Spanish restrictions, a political truce would be in the best interest of Gibraltar and a coalition was formed.

Another result of the Spanish campaign politics, was that the question of Gibraltar’s future constitutional relationship with the mother country aroused great public interest and a number of alternative forms were suggested and debated in the Press and elsewhere.

In November the United Nations Fourth Committee in the course of their consideration of the report of the Committee of 24, began a debate on Gibraltar. The Chief Minister and his deputy went to New York once again to be present during the discussions and to act as advisers on the situation in Gibraltar to the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations. In December the General Assembly passed a resolution submitted to it by the Fourth Committee once again calling on Britain and Spain to hold talks on Gibraltar.

An economic survey was carried out in April 1965, with a view to the preparation of a master plan for the comprehensive development of Gibraltar. As a result of discussions in London £1m was made available over a 3-year period under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts together with Exchequer loans. A further special grant of £100k was made in recognition of the additional expenditure incurred as a result of Spanish measures. Local taxation measures were also introduced.

In January 1966, NATO aircraft were banned from overflying Spain if bound for Gibraltar. This ban was later extended, in August, to all British military aircraft.

In August 1966, some 2,000 Spanish females formerly commuting to Gibraltar daily to work were prohibited by Spain from entering Gibraltar. The frontier gates were finally closed to all vehicular traffic in October 1966. The ban on exports from Spain to Gibraltar was made total by extending it to fish, fruit and vegetables. The British Government, as in 1965, made a further special grant of £100k to help meet the additional expenditure incurred by the Gibraltar Government as a result of Spanish measures.

In October, Mr Fred Lee, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, visited Gibraltar for consultations on political and financial matters. During this visit he announced the grant of a first instalment of £600k for development projects.

During 1966, the British Government agreed to hold talks with Spain over Gibraltar. This followed the 1964 consensus of the Committee of 24 endorsed by a resolution passed by the General Assembly in December 1965.

The talks began in London on the 18 May 1966. Further sessions were held in July, September and October. Throughout the talks the British Government made it clear that it had no doubt about its sovereignty over Gibraltar and that it would protect the interests of the inhabitants. At the talks held in October the British Government proposed that the legal issues in the dispute be referred to the International Court of Justice at the Hague. This proposal was later rejected by Spain.

In December the question of Gibraltar, which had once again been under consideration by the Committee of 24, came before the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly. The Chief Member and his deputy appeared again as petitioners on behalf of Gibraltar. Eventually a Resolution was adopted which made specific reference to the need to take into account the interests of the people of Gibraltar. The resolution, which both Britain and Spain supported, called on Britain to expedite, in consultation with Spain, the decolonisation of Gibraltar and to report to the Committee of 24 not later than the next session of the Assembly.

Sir Robert Fowler, KCMG, was appointed Referendum Administrator and the Commonwealth Secretary-General, at the invitation of the British Government, appointed a team of observers from four Commonwealth countries. Two members of the team paid a preliminary visit to Gibraltar in August to observe the earlier stages of the arrangements and the whole team were in Gibraltar from the 4 to the 13 September. The Referendum was held on the 10 September 1967.

The Referendum was enthusiastically welcomed by the people of Gibraltar as an opportunity to express their own views as to their future. Those qualified to vote in the Referendum were all persons over 21 who were registered as Gibraltarians and were ordinarily resident in Gibraltar. 12,138 were in favour of retaining the link with Britain while 44 voted for Spanish sovereignty.

The Commonwealth Observers team reported:

"It is our unanimous view that the actual conduct of the Referendum fully conformed with the requirements for the free expression of choice through the medium of the secret ballot".

The Director General of the United Nations Association in London, who was also present in Gibraltar for the Referendum, informed the Secretary General of the United Nations that the result genuinely reflected the wishes of the electorate and should be respected by the United Nations.

In pursuance also of the General Assembly Resolution, talks between British and Spanish officials were due to take place in April, 1967. They were however postponed by Her Majesty’s Government when the Spanish Government announced its intention of declaring a prohibited air zone which was clearly designed to interfere with access to Gibraltar by air. The prohibited air zone came into operation on 15 May. The whole question was referred by the British Government to the International Civil Aviation Organisation. Signs of further harassment by the Spanish authorities were seen towards the end of the year when Spanish warships began anchoring in British waters around the Rock.

In October the British Government informed the Spanish Government that they were prepared to hold future talks on Anglo-Spanish relations, including the question of Gibraltar, in November. The Spanish Government replied that they would be prepared to resume talks in 1968 once the questions of Gibraltar had been dealt with by the United Nations which were due to do so in December. When the discussion on Gibraltar was resumed by the United Nations the Chief Minister and his deputy once again appeared before the Fourth Committee as petitioners. After a long debate the Fourth Committee adopted a resolution based on the provisions of a resolution passed by the Committee of 24 in September declaring that the Referendum was in contravention of a former resolution and inviting Spain and the United Kingdom to resume their negotiations on Gibraltar. The British Government made it clear that decolonisation could not mean the handing over of the people of Gibraltar to Spain against their wishes and that they considered the resolution to be inconsistent with the provisions of the Charter.

In April 1967, the Legislature approved the Development Programme for the period 1967-70, involving expenditure of over £3.8m. Later in 1967 an Exchequer Loan of £200k was approved for electricity development. In February 1968, the Ministry of Overseas Development announced a grant of £1m to help finance the building of 560 flats over a 4-year period. In December, the Ministry stated that a sum of £600k would be provided for a further hotel development over a similar period. On the 6 May the Spanish Government closed the frontier with Gibraltar to all persons except Spanish nationals entering Gibraltar daily to work and civilian residents of Gibraltar who wished to apply for special passes to cross the frontier. As a result, the only remaining unrestricted communication with Spain was the ferry across the bay to Algeciras.

Also in May the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister left for London for preliminary talks on the proposed new Constitution and to discuss the latest restrictions at the frontier. These talks were continued during a visit to Gibraltar later in the month by Mr George Thomson, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs. The formal constitutional talks opened on the 16 July and ended on the 24^th. They were held in Gibraltar under the Chairmanship of the Minister of State at the Commonwealth Office, Lord Shepherd, and were attended by all the elected members of the Legislative Council and City Council and by representatives of the integration with Britain Party.

The Gibraltar City Council met for the last time in August. Its functions, assets and liabilities were transferred to the Government, the staff of the two bodies were merged into a single public service and a start was made on the process of merging the two administrations.

Further restrictions were imposed by the Spanish Government during 1969. On the 9 June, the Spanish labour force of 4,666 men who had previously entered Gibraltar daily to work was withdrawn; on the 27 June, the Algeciras Gibraltar passenger sea ferry services the last remaining link with the mainland of Spain was also withdrawn.

On the 1 October, telephone and telegraph links with Gibraltar were cut.

Lord Shepherd held a series of discussions with His Excellency the Governor and Gibraltar Ministers in Gibraltar in August 1969. These were followed by further talks in London on Gibraltar development proposals in December. As a result of these talks the British Government agreed to make available a sum of about £4m over the three year period 1970/73.

In 1973 Gibraltar entered the European Economic Community, as a dependent territory in Europe, under Article 277(4) of the Treaty of Rome but was excluded, at the request of the Government of Gibraltar, from the common external tariff, the common agricultural policy and value added tax. 1973 also saw Gibraltar’s re-inclusion in the Scheduled Territories of the Sterling Area.

HMG’s Development Aid to Gibraltar for the programme period 1978/81 amounted to £14m, and was largely directed towards port development, education and housing. For its own part, the Gibraltar Government contributed £20m for the construction of a new power station, a new IDD telephone system and social projects, notably housing.

In late 1981, a £4m tranche of Development Aid was agreed for urgent projects forming part of the 1981/86 Development Payment. In December 1982 a further £9m of Aid was granted, raising HMG’s contribution to the Development Programme to £13m for the period 1981/86.

In November 1977 the Spanish Foreign Minister and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs met in Strasbourg to discuss the Gibraltar question. The Chief Minister Sir Joshua Hassan and the Leader of the Opposition Maurice Xiberras attended the meeting as part of the British delegation.

A further meeting was held in Paris on 15 March 1978 and, as a result, joint working parties of officials were set up to study the questions of tele-communications, social security benefits for Spaniards formerly working in Gibraltar and maritime communications between Spain and Gibraltar. The working parties met in London in July 1978 and in Madrid in December.

For some years, the Internal Trunk Service with Gibraltar had been temporarily restored by Spain during festive seasons. When the Service was restored during Christmas 1977 it was not subsequently withdrawn.

In September 1979 the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs had a meeting with the Spanish Foreign Minister whilst they were in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly. During this their first meeting they had a preliminary discussion on Gibraltar. They agreed that it was in the interests of both Britain and Spain to seek ways of resolving their differences on the question and to consider possible ways forward.

On 10 April 1980, after talks in Lisbon between the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Spanish Foreign Minister a joint statement was issued in which both Governments agreed to start negotiations aimed at overcoming all the differences between them on Gibraltar. The statement recorded the Spanish Government’s decision to suspend the application of the measures at present in force. It was envisaged that the preparations to implement the Agreement would be completed not later than 1 June 1980.

The arrangements on the Gibraltar side were completed by the date, but the Spanish Government did not signify a date for the implementation of the Agreement. On 15 December 1982, the Spanish Authorities partially opened the frontier for pedestrians only, but restricted this to British Passport holders resident in Gibraltar and Spanish nationals. Persons crossing the frontier were not allowed by Spanish Customs to export goods from Gibraltar.

Elections were held in January 1984 and eight members of the Gibraltar Labour Party/Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights and 7 of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party were elected. The Gibraltar Labour Party/Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights accordingly formed Government for the fourth consecutive term with Sir Joshua Hassan as Chief Minister.

On the 27 November 1984 the Brussels Agreement was signed by the British and Spanish Foreign Ministers. This Agreement prepared the way for the lifting of all Spanish restrictions on Gibraltar and for talks on sovereignty.

The Brussels Agreement was condemned by the GSLP which had 7 opposition seats and the Democratic Party of British Gibraltar which had no seats but obtained 17.8% of the vote.

Spain opened its border on 5 February 1985. There were meetings of working groups of officials periodically prior to meetings between the Spanish and British Foreign Ministers. Spain, however, refused to restore the sea ferry removed on 25 June 1969 or to remove the air exclusion zone introduced in 1967.

The question of air communications was discussed between Spanish and British co-ordinators throughout 1985 and 1986. The position of the Gibraltar House of Assembly was set out in the following motions passed unanimously on 24 March 1986 and 17 December 1986 respectively:-

"This House affirms, that should proposals be put forward in connection with greater civilian use of the Gibraltar airport, which might in the view of the Gibraltar House of Assembly make it possible to represent or interpret such use as being an encroachment on British Sovereignty over the isthmus, such proposals would be unacceptable to this House and to the people of Gibraltar. It calls on her Majesty’s Government to note this view and make it known to the Government of the Kingdom of Spain."

"This House declares that the views and wishes of the people of Gibraltar in respect of the use of the Airport are: (a) that it should continue under the exclusive control of the British and Gibraltarian authorities and (b) that any flight from or to any foreign country should be governed by the rules applicable to international flights."

Independent of bilateral talks between the United Kingdom and Spain, the EC agreed on a package of liberalisation which was an extension of the one agreed in 1983 in which Gibraltar had been included as a British regional airport. In July 1987, in Luxembourg, when the new liberalisation agreement was about to be ratified, Spain used its veto to make its support of the agreement conditional on Gibraltar being left out of it. On 6 July 1987 the House of Assembly passed the following motion unanimously:-

"This House –

The British Government sent a senior official to Gibraltar to sound out local opinion on a proposed agreement on the joint use of the Gibraltar Airport. A mass public demonstration of 16,000 persons led by all members of the House of Assembly was held on the 10 November 1987 which rejected any agreement giving the Spanish Government a measure of control over the Gibraltar airport. On 17 November 1987 the following motion was unanimously passed at the House of Assembly:-

"This House –

1. applauds the initiative of the Action for Gibraltar Group and the Gibraltar Trades Council in organising a demonstration on the question of the airport in support of the stand taken by the House of Assembly and thanks the representative bodies and the thousands of persons who signed the petition and participated in the demonstration;
2. reiterates the views expressed by this House in the resolution adopted on 25 March and 16 December 1986;
3. calls on her Majesty’s Government not to conclude an agreement with the Spanish Government, on the question of the Gibraltar airport, which would involve any concessions being made to Spain or which would in any way establish, or at any time in the future lead to, any form of joint control of the airport; and
4. rejects the following proposals made by the Spanish negotiators as published in El Pais on the 29 October 1987, ie

1. Access for Spaniards to the airport without passing through British Customs and Immigration
2. Construction of another terminal
3. Spanish participation in the control of Gibraltar Air Space
4. Possible presence of Spanish Air Traffic controllers in the Gibraltar Control Tower
5. Spain’s eventual association with the management of the airport."

Notwithstanding the fact that public opinion was diametrically opposed to a bilateral deal treating Gibraltar differently to all other European airports, the British and Spanish Governments went ahead and announced an agreement in December 1987 for the joint use of the airport. The Agreement left it up to the legislature of Gibraltar to pass the necessary legislation to enable it to come into force.

The Brussels and Airport Agreement featured prominently in the March 1988 election campaign. The GSLP sought a mandate against both Agreements.

The Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party won the election obtaining 58.2% of the vote compared to 29.3% obtained by the Gibraltar Labour Party/AACR. Mr J J Bossano was appointed Chief Minister.

In September 1989, the Gibraltar Government filed an application under Article 173 of the EC Treaty before the European Court of Justice challenging the legal validity of Gibraltar’s suspension from the EC Air Liberalisation Regime as enshrined in the 1987 Anglo/Spanish Airport Agreement. The ECJ heard the case on the 6 May 1992. The Court later ruled, on the 29 June 1993, that Gibraltar’s case was inadmissible on the grounds that the dispute between the UK and Spain, as evidenced by the bilateral airport agreement, represented an obstacle of an objective nature to the implementation of the EC Directives having regard to their aims.

At meetings in Luxembourg on 26 June and 1 July 1991, all the EC Member States came close to agreement on a convention on the demarcation of the Community’s external frontier, a key step in completing the objectives of the free movement of persons provisions in the EC Treaties. Spain opposed the text for political reasons because it included Gibraltar within the Community’s external frontier. The UK maintained that Gibraltar was part of the EC under Article 227(4) of the Treaty of Rome and exempting Gibraltar, or making it subject to a separate bilateral agreement, would be contrary to Gibraltar’s status within the EC. To date, there continues to be deadlock over final agreement on the Convention.

A General Election was held on 16 January 1992. The GSLP Government sought a new mandate based on its record since 1988 and on the need to reform the 1969 Constitution to take account of the impact on Gibraltar’s status following developments in the European Union, as these affected both domestic and non-domestic affairs. The Government was re-elected by a 73% majority vote.

In his inaugural address to the House of Assembly of 9 February 1992, Mr Bossano said that it was the intention of his Government to change the Territory’s Constitution and shed its colonial status. He proposed that in so far as EC had a collective defence and foreign affairs policy, the Community should become involved in these matters on Gibraltar’s behalf. However, to the extent that defence and foreign affairs were not co-ordinated through the Community, the United Kingdom should remain responsible. Mr Bossano said that Gibraltar was seeking to reform its 1969 Constitution. He told the House of Assembly:

"The time has come for Gibraltar to be seen as a territory whose people are fully entitled to the right of self-determination. We reject entirely the argument that an eighteenth century treaty can limit or inhibit the right of European people to exercise self-determination when that right is not denied to another single human being."

On the 28 July 1992, Mr Bossano appeared before the UN Committee of 24 after a Gibraltar absence going back some 25 years. He reiterated the need for a new constitutional relationship with the UK in the context of Gibraltar’s status within the EC.

Mr Bossano returned to the UN in 1993 where he addressed both the Committee of 24 on the 14 July and the Fourth Committee on the 12 October. He asked for recognition of Gibraltar’s right to self-determination and sought the protection of the UN to ensure that this right was not denied to the Gibraltarians who were committed to ending their colonial status in keeping with the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the Eradication of Colonialism by the year 2000.

On the 10 September 1993, Gibraltar celebrated its first ever National Day which drew a massive turn-out of some 16,000 persons at a public rally, supported by all the local political parties, demanding recognition of the right to self-determination.

Mr Bossano again addressed the Committee of 24 and the Fourth Committee on the 12 July and 11 October 1994. He made it clear that it was impossible to have decolonisation without self-determination. He repeated the need for UN support to ensure that Gibraltar did not remain the one remaining colonial territory which was not de-colonised by the year 2000.

On the 21 November 1994, Mr Bossano presented Gibraltar’s case for self-determination before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva. In its conclusions, the Committee stated.

"….calls upon all parties to the existing situation to ensure full respect for all the rights recognised in the Covenant (ie 1976 Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) in relation to future developments concerning Gibraltar."

A General Election was held on the 16 May 1996. The Gibraltar Social Democrats won the election with 51% of the vote. Mr Peter Caruana was appointed as Chief Minister. The new administration has pledged to establish a politically secure British Gibraltar with a modern Constitution – In an address to the UN Committee of 24, the Chief Minister explained the Gibraltar Government’s policy of seeking dialogue with Spain but only on the basis of Gibraltar having its own separate voice and representation. This theme was developed in a similar address before the UN Fourth Committee on the 7 October 1996. The Chief Minister called upon the Fourth Committee to support Gibraltar’s right to having a voice and representative separate from that of the administering power.

On the 6 June 1997, the Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, once again addressed the UN Committee of 24, again seeking a clear recognition of Gibraltar’s inalienable right to self determination.

The Chief Minister questioned that a colonial people should be deprived of self determination simply because another State, ie Spain, asserts a historical territorial claim. He added that it defies all logic for a third party to be able to frustrate the right of self determination of the inhabitants of a colony when this is not done by the administering power itself.

Even though Gibraltar continued to seek the Committee of 24’s declaration of the right to self determination, the Chief Minister told the Committee that his Government does not make acceptance by Spain of his Government’s position a pre-condition for dialogue with her. What Gibraltar does insist on is that any dialogue should recognise Gibraltar’s right to represent its own position in its own right with a distinct voice.

The Chief Minister referred to the UN’s Special Committee’s target for the eradication of colonialism by the year 2000. If Gibraltar is to have any chance of progress, let alone success, he said the Special Committee must inject new life, a catalyst, into the issue. The catalyst is the recognition of the supremacy of the wishes of the people of Gibraltar coupled with a call for Gibraltar to be allowed to represent itself in its own right at dialogue.

The arguments were reiterated when Mr Caruana addressed the Fourth Committee on the 9 October 1997 calling upon it to recognise that the people of Gibraltar, like the people of all non-self governing territories on the UN list, have the right to self determination and that any talks about Gibraltar must include the elected representatives of the people of Gibraltar in their own right.

The Chief Minister stressed that there can be no progress in resolving our differences with Spain if they continue to insist that the matter must be resolved bilaterally between the UK and Spain thus denying Gibraltar of its fundamental human right of self determination.

The Gibraltar Government was again absent at a further round of Anglo-Spanish talks under the Brussels Agreement held in London on the 10 December 1997 issuing a public statement detailing its conditions for participation in future talks as follows:

1. A single composite British delegation comprising internally separate Gibraltar and UK representative parts, led by the Foreign Secretary with the Chief Minister as deputy leader.
2. The Chief Minister, and (where appropriate) other members of the Gibraltar part of the British delegation, to be present throughout all parts of the talks.
3. HMG should not agree, without the chief Minister’s prior specific endorsement, to any new arrangements under the Brussels Agreement on any matter affecting Gibraltar.

Once again, the Chief Minister appeared before both the Committee of 24 and the Fourth committee of the United Nations during 1998. On these occasions the Chief Minister stressed Gibraltar’s right to self determination stating that the constitutional relationship involving Gibraltar and the administering power, the UK, should not be an obstacle to better relationships between Gibraltar and Spain.

Running on a par with the Government’s continued attempts to obtain a voice for Gibraltar in Anglo-Spanish discussions over the Rock is a process set in motion by the Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, for Gibraltar to modernise its constitutional relationship with the UK.

The new administration has also been instrumental in rebutting Spanish attempts to preclude Gibraltar from accruing any benefits from its membership – with Britain – of the European Union. The Chief Minister has led two official Gibraltar Government delegations to Brussels for this purpose and a Gibraltar Office now functions in the European capital.

On 18 February 1999, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that in denying citizens of Gibraltar the right to vote in European elections, the United Kingdom was in violation of its European Union obligations. Arrangements are now proceeding to correct the anomaly through which European citizens in Gibraltar were disenfranchised.