Monday was an important day for Gibraltar. It was
Gibraltar Day in the City of London hosted by the Chief Minister, Fabian
Picardo, and also there was an urgent debate in the House of Commons on the
cross border delays which drew all party support. However I would argue the
most important event of Monday was that the Labour Party demonstrated it was
firmly behind Gibraltar and its right to self-determine its own future.
Of course the Labour Party was never off-side but was
tainted by the attempts of its former Premier, Tony Blair, who to appease
Spain’s Prime Minister José María Aznar, tried to bump Gibraltar in to a
joint-sovereignty deal. He was aided and abetted in that task by his Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw and Europe Minister Peter Hain. The stain of Hain has
been with the Labour Party ever since.
However it should be remembered that the triple-lock
to Gibraltar’s security was not a Tory invention but Labour’s. Also one of the
most effective of Gibraltar’s MEPs was Labour’s Glen Ford who fought hard for
the Rock and only lost his seat because of the socialists’ electoral collapse
in the UK. Also the emergency debate in the House of Commons on Monday was
secured by Jim Dobbin. He is the Labour/Co-op MP for Heywood and Middleton and is
Chair of the All Party Gibraltar Group. So the Labour Party, a sister party of
the GSLP, have been good friends of Gibraltar and will continue to be so.
The important contribution to Monday’s debate came
from Labour’s Shadow Europe Minister, Emma Reynolds. The key words were: “The Opposition continue
to support the self-determination of the Gibraltarian people and their right to
remain under British sovereignty, as we did in government.”
This drew the response
from the Europe Minister, David Lidington: “I am grateful for what the hon.
Lady said about her support for British sovereignty over Gibraltar and
respecting the rights of its people. I particularly welcome her remarks, if
they mark a break with the proposals for shared sovereignty and the betrayal of
the people of Gibraltar that the Labour party supported when in office.”
Even Ian Paisley the
North Antrim DUP MP after welcoming the strong statement by the Minister added:
“and the equally strong statement from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North
East (Emma Reynolds) on the Opposition Front Bench about Gibraltar’s
sovereignty.”
Labour is back on track
and Lidington’s acidic remark accusing the Labour Party of “betrayal” would
have been water off a duck’s back to the very capable Shadow Europe Minister.
It would have been surprising if he hadn’t made it but he should be very wary
of using Gibraltar to score political points in the future. Gibraltar needs the
Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour to speak with one voice in its support.
Emma Reynolds also opened
the way for her boss the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, and
indeed the Labour Party Leader, Ed Miliband, to talk about Gibraltar without
looking over their shoulders to the Blair era. The deeds of Blair, Straw and Hain
are consigned to books: it is the words and actions of Miliband, Alexander and
Reynolds that now count.
