Commons to debate Gib treaty on July 8 ahead of formal ratification

The House of Commons will debate the UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar next week, even before the formal ratification process has commenced.

The debate appears in the Commons order paper for Wednesday July 8, where it is listed for 9.30am under the title “That this House has considered the draft UK-EU Agreement on Gibraltar”, with Conservative MP Martin Vickers named to lead it.

The agreement has yet to be signed and formally laid in the Commons, though it has been available to MPs since its publication earlier this year.

Once it is formally laid in the Commons, it will be ratified in accordance with the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, known as the CRAG Act.

Under the CRAG process, the UK Government cannot ratify a treaty unless it has first laid a signed copy before Parliament for 21 sitting days, along with an explanatory memorandum.

If, during those 21 days, the Commons passes a resolution that the treaty should not be ratified, another 21-sitting-day delay to ratification is triggered.

This process may be repeated continuously, though no such resolution not to ratify a treaty has ever been passed by the Commons. A House of Lords resolution against ratification does not delay ratification.

The July 8 debate is outside the CRAG procedure and it is unclear whether there will be a separate debate specifically arranged by the UK Government during the formal scrutiny window under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act.

The issue was raised this week in response to a written question from Conservative shadow minister for Europe Wendy Morton, who asked about arrangements for a debate on the treaty during the period of parliamentary scrutiny under the CRAG procedure.

Sir Alan Campbell, the Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons, said the UK Government remained committed to this as long as it was practically feasible.

“The Government’s commitment to holding debates during the process under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 is subject to the request being made in a timely manner and parliamentary time being available,” Sir Alan said in the response.

“There are of course other routes for Hon. Members to secure debates, and I note that there will be a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday 8th July regarding the draft UK-EU Agreement on Gibraltar.”

Mr Vickers, who secured the July 8 debate, was recently in Gibraltar on a fact-finding mission accompanied by Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, a Crossbench peer and fellow member of the all-party parliamentary group on Gibraltar in the UK Parliament.

At the time Mr Vickers, the group’s vice chairman, said he was satisfied that the UK’s negotiating red lines had been respected and that the treaty was “a sensible arrangement”.

“Every negotiation has to have an element of give and take, otherwise you never reach agreement,” he told the Chronicle during his visit.

“But the crucial red lines regarding sovereignty and so on have not been crossed.”

Mr Vickers said he expected important questions to be asked when the treaty reached Westminster and said the Conservative opposition front bench would likely seek a debate as part of the CRAG process, adding this was unlikely to be concluded until the autumn.

But he signalled too that, based on what he had heard in Gibraltar and London, there was no indication of any serious attempt to block the agreement.

“There will always be voices that make noises for political rather than practical reasons,” he said at the time.

“And that’s one of the reasons we should have a debate [because] every corner should have its say.”

“I suspect that although questions will be asked, the UK Parliament will accept this.”

“And the reality is, of course, that you've got a Labour government who have negotiated this and they've got the numbers.”

“So if the government, as they obviously do, support the treaty, then it will pass.”