The European Scrutiny Committee in the House of Commons has asked the UK Government to explain what its approach to the Gibraltar treaty negotiation “could mean for the entire UK family”.
The message was set out in a letter to Europe Minister Leo Docherty from Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash, the committee’s Eurosceptic chairman.
Sir Bill had already written to Mr Docherty previously expressing “alarm” at aspects of the proposed agreement including “talk of Schengen border checks on Gibraltar, the notion of a ‘level playing field’ for cross-border trade and ‘flexibility’ regarding joint UK/Spain management of Gibraltar airport”.
Last Monday Sir Bill secured an urgent question on Gibraltar in the Commons and asked for Mr Docherty to appear before the committee on Tuesday, though the minister did not make himself available.
Mr Docherty, who was in Gibraltar last Monday, had described Sir Bill’s first letter as “moderately cryptic” in comments to this newspaper, even while acknowledging the committee was rightly holding the UK Government to account.
He said he would offer Sir Bill his personal reassurance that the UK and Gibraltar were “completely united” in the negotiation and that Gibraltar’s British sovereignty would not be undermined by any agreement.
But in a letter late last week, Sir Bill expressed frustration that the minister had not appeared before the committee after the urgent question in the Commons.
“I trust you understand that I did not take applying for an Urgent Question lightly,” he told the minister in a letter.
“Given the progress you have indicated is being made towards a UK/EU agreement on Gibraltar, we are keen on your attendance before the Committee as a matter of urgency.”
“We appreciate Mr Picardo’s offer to appear before us but the UK Government is yet to account to us for its negotiations, including what its current approach could mean for the entire UK family.”
“I am afraid the UK Government’s red lines on Gibraltar negotiations are not clear.”
Sir Bill noted that in answering questions on Monday, Foreign Office Minister David Rutley did not rule out a Schengen border “on” Gibraltar or alignment with EU rules, rejecting Mr Rutley’s assertion that efforts at alignment are a “normal elements of trade agreements”.
Sir Bill also said Mr Rutley had not ruled out “joint UK/Spain management of the airport”, which he said could not be described as either a practical or technical change to its current operation.
The UK Government had previously said it was open to exploring “practical and technical” options to allow flights between Gibraltar and EU destinations.
“I should also add that the airport was not initially considered to be within scope of these negotiations,” Sir Bill said.
“I hope I have made these points clear and you do not believe them to be cryptic.”
“We are happy to further explain these concerns to you in evidence.”
Sir Bill’s latest letter was published on the same day that Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, answering questions in the Gibraltar Parliament, expressed surprise that the veteran Tory had highlighted these issues in correspondence with Mr Docherty.
“None of the things that Sir Bill is saying should have caught anyone by surprise in Gibraltar,” Mr Picardo said at the time.
“I'm sure they didn't catch him by surprise, and indeed I'm surprised that some of them appear to have caught Sir Bill by surprise, because I've gone back and looked at my evidence before that committee and I had already said that there was going to be a Schengen border at Gibraltar airport and the issue was how it was going to be managed.”
“And I’ve already said on a number of occasions that we would be aligning closely with European rules in some respects.”
“Nobody’s ever talked of UK/Spain joint management of the airport. That wouldn’t be agreed by a Government of Gibraltar.”