HM Government of Gibraltar completely rejects the GSD's attempt to characterise Gibraltar's new residency framework as "anti-British".

It is entirely disingenuous to suggest that the Residency Regulations discriminate against British citizens. The criteria governing new applications for residence are based on matters such as economic contribution, employment, accommodation and age, not on whether an applicant is British, Spanish or of another nationality. In fact, there is NOTHING in the regulations that refers to any nationality whatsoever.

Indeed, British citizens remain able to take up employment in Gibraltar without requiring a work permit and can begin employment while applying for residency.

The Government considers it particularly irresponsible for the GSD to manufacture an "anti-British" narrative where none exists, particularly at a time in which institutional relations between the UK and Gibraltar are at an all-time high. Indeed, the FCDO and Convent were consulted on the policy and raised no such concerns. The rules are therefore UK Government approved. Hardly a recipe for discrimination against UK British citizens! The GSD's made-up rhetoric risks creating entirely unnecessary division and uncertainty about Gibraltar's relationship with the United Kingdom.

The purpose of the new framework is to ensure that, in a post-Treaty environment in which Gibraltar is likely to become an increasingly attractive place to live, access to our limited housing stock and public services is managed sustainably.

The Government introduced these rules to protect Gibraltar's economy and, in particular, the Gibraltar Health Authority and our schools. The GHA serves a small community and has finite capacity. Unmanaged growth in the number of people entitled to access it would place real pressure on the services on which Gibraltarians and existing residents rely every day. This is a pro-Gibraltar policy, designed to safeguard the interests of current residents of Gibraltar and those who will make their lives here in future, whatever their nationality may be.

Against that background, it is not clear whose interests Nick Cruz is looking out for. A policy that protects Gibraltar's economy, its health service, its housing and its education policy is in the interests of Gibraltarians and everyone who makes their home here. Nick Cruz is evidently more interested in preparing an already misguided election campaign than the interests of Gibraltar and its people.

The Minister for Health, Care and Business, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez, said: “This framework exists for one reason, and that is to protect Gibraltar. Our health service, our housing and our public services belong to the Gibraltar residents and they must be managed responsibly as Gibraltar becomes an even more attractive place to live. That is what this Government is doing. It is a policy made in Gibraltar, for Gibraltarians, and nothing about it is anti-British. British citizens can still work here without a permit, and there are clear routes for young people and for those with the skills our economy needs. I will always listen to our business community and the framework is under review. But I will not apologise for putting the interests of Gibraltar residents first, and I would invite Mr Cruz to explain whose interests he is putting first and why he is fronting this instead of the Hon Shadow Minister for Business, Mr Sacarello.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

• The GSD also continues to conflate the right to work in Gibraltar with the right to live in Gibraltar. They are not the same thing. Thousands of people already work successfully in Gibraltar while living outside it.

• It is also untrue to suggest that young British graduates are prevented from living in Gibraltar. The Regulations expressly provide a route for applicants under 30 earning below the average earnings threshold, where the relevant contribution requirements are met.

• Similarly, the provisions relating to applicants over 55 are not a prohibition on experienced entrepreneurs or senior professionals coming to Gibraltar. The Regulations expressly provide discretion to waive the age or earnings requirements where an applicant has skills important to Gibraltar's economic development or where there is a demonstrable shortage of labour or skills. That discretion can also be exercised in respect of an entire sector or industry.

• The suggestion that Gibraltar has somehow handed Spain control over its economy is equally misleading and irresponsible. Gibraltar remains in charge of determining its own domestic residency criteria within the framework agreed under the Treaty. The Treaty requires proposed future changes to the relevant conditions to be notified to the Cooperation Council, which may give an opinion on their compatibility with the Treaty. That is not the same thing as Spain determining who Gibraltar chooses to admit as a resident.

• The Government has always been clear that it will listen to Gibraltar's business community and keep the operation of the new framework under review. Protecting economic growth and protecting Gibraltar's housing, infrastructure and public services are not competing objectives. Responsible government requires us to do both.

• The GSD is entitled to disagree with the Government's residency policy and to propose alternatives. What it should not do is invent an "anti-British" motive that simply does not exist and use Gibraltar's British identity as a political slogan in a debate about the sustainable management of residence.

• Gibraltar remains proudly British, proudly open for business and committed to welcoming people who come here to work, invest, create employment and make a genuine contribution to our community.