My article centres on events being played out in a dusty committee room
of the House of Commons. A battle is underway to ensure Gibraltarians are
allowed to vote in the Conservative’s EU In-Out Referendum should the Tories be
returned to power at the next UK election.
Gibraltar has been a member of the EU since January 1 1973 by virtue of
Britain’s membership. However although Gibraltarians are full European citizens
we were denied a vote in the European Elections until the 2004 poll. Gibraltarian’s
will well know this followed a ten-year legal fight which culminated with the
European Court ruling that as European Citizens we had the fundamental right to
vote in the Euro elections. The UK then added Gibraltar to the South West
England Constituency where it sits today.
A cynic may say there are two facts that may colour the Conservative
Party’s seeming reluctance to include Gibraltar in its EU In-Out referendum.
The first is that in the 2009 European Elections Gibraltar was the only area
amongst all the UK Constituencies where the vote for Labour increased.
The second is that Gibraltar is very pro-Europe and indeed the UK’s
withdrawal from the EU would be politically and economically disastrous for us.
Hence if an In – Out Referendum is held in 2017 it is likely that Gibraltarians
will vote massively to continue EU membership. True Gibraltar only has around
20,000 votes but in a tight election that total could help swing the election
in favour of staying in the EU.
The whole concept of the 2017 referendum is a bizarre piece of
legislation. It is not the Conservative – Lib Dem Government that is proposing
it but it comes in the form of a Tory private member’s bill. It would only be
enacted if a Conservative Government was returned. It has little to do with the
EU but rather is a tactic to fend off UKIP at the next General Election and to
keep Tory Euro-sceptics onside.
In off the record chats with Gibraltar Government officials I have been
told that the UK has given the impression that Gibraltarians would be allowed
to vote in the referendum. However there is nothing in writing and the current
bill being discussed in Committee at the House of Commons, the Conservative
Private Member’s Bill, does not allow for Gibraltarians to vote.
The Conservative Minister for Europe David Lidington had the chance to
clear up the matter last week when he addressed the committee stage of the
Bill. He said that regardless of whether or not
Gibraltar is included in the In-Out referendum on the EU, which has yet to be
determined, the UK should consult the Government of Gibraltar to fully
understand its views as Gibraltarians would be affected by the decision either
way.
Indeed they would Mr Lidington but asking the
Gibraltar Government its views is a far cry from allowing Gibraltarians, as
British and European citizens, to vote and is simply not acceptable. The
suspicion that the Tories intend to deny Gibraltarians the vote is strengthened
by the fact that Lidington did not take the opportunity when he had it to state
categorically that we would be allowed to participate which would have cleared
up all doubt.
Instead it has been left to Lidington’s shadow,
Labour Europe Minister Emma Reynolds and her team to fight Gibraltar’s corner.
Reynolds is worried that the bill as currently drafted fails to appreciate the particular
and unique legal and constitutional position of Gibraltar as both a self
governing British Overseas Territory and as part of the European Union.
As the Bill is currently drafted, the entitlement to vote in the
proposed referendum will be restricted to “persons who, on the date of the
referendum, would be entitled to vote as electors at a parliamentary election
in any constituency.”
Whilst Gibraltarians are entitled to vote in European Parliamentary
elections as part of the South West England Constituency we are self governing
and not represented in the UK’s Parliament. The people of Gibraltar would
therefore not be able to vote on whether to remain or leave the European Union
should a referendum take place. There is also the prospect of Gibraltar having
to leave the European Union, alongside the UK, without its people having had a
say. Labour has proposed two key amendments: the first to ensure that Gibraltarians
as British citizens are included and the second that Gibraltar’s result is
declared separately. Will the Tories take note? No sign so far!
For Gibraltar this is a two-fold issue. Gibraltarians, as European
Citizens, must be allowed to vote on their future in Europe. Withdrawal would
have important negative economic implications for Gibraltar.
Gibraltar’s successful business model has taken the best part of the
past forty years to develop as Gibraltarians have matured into their role in
Europe. In an address to the Fabian Society in London in April Gibraltar’s Chief
Minister, Fabian Picardo, stated: “Our success in tourism, bunkering, telecoms,
financial services and gaming as well as the many other sectors of our economic
activity depends on our membership of the EU giving us unimpeded access to the
Single Market in services and free movement of people and capital.” He added:
“Now would be the wrong to time to change one of the few successful economic
models in Southern Europe.”
The prospect of Gibraltar’s economy being destroyed by the UK’s
withdrawal from the EU, via a referendum in which Gibraltarians as British and
European Citizens had no say, would be disastrous for Gibraltar and disastrous
for our concept of democracy. It is the duty of the Conservative-led Government
and the Conservative Party to ensure that does not happen.
