Gib treaty ‘worth evangelising’, CM tells FT 

The solution agreed in the Gibraltar treaty guaranteeing frontier fluidity while stopping short of full EU free movement was “worth evangelising”, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said in a letter to the Financial Times on Wednesday. 

Mr Picardo was reacting after a Financial Times economics columnist, Martin Sandbu, argued in an opinion piece this week that the Gibraltar treaty showed the UK’s new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, would be “politically astute” to build closer ties with the EU from the outset of his time in the post. 

Mr Picardo acknowledged the column, which he had shared earlier on social media, and focused on its benefits for residents of Gibraltar travelling with the Schengen area. 

“We have agreed a common travel area with Schengen, which gives us all the benefits of fluidity - and exempts residents from the entry-exit system and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, an upcoming electronic travel authorisation for visitors from visa-exempt countries - but does not allow EU citizens the freedom of establishment (a key part of the principal of free movement, one of the "four freedoms") in our tiny territory,” the Chief Minister wrote. 

“In the days of lengthy queues at EU borders (and with Etias visas to come), frontier fluidity without the problem of potential immigration from the EU makes our treaty one worth evangelising.” 

In his column published on Sunday, Mr Sandbu said achieving an open border for goods and people were “wonderful objectives”, adding the Gibraltar treaty should show Mr Burnham that “a softer Brexit is the only option”. 

“When Burnham does turn his mind to the EU, he would be wise to absorb immediately the key lesson of the Gibraltar deal: EU law and economic attraction are a more immovable object than successive UK governments’ promises to the population,” he wrote.  

“In Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, successive UK governments have eventually opted to align in major ways with EU laws - including its customs union, its VAT system, its regulations on goods standards, data, aviation and subsidies, and - for Gibraltar only -immigration rules.” 

“From Theresa May to Keir Starmer, both of whom proposed even more UK-wide alignment on a single market for goods to reduce frictions, seeking closer ties to Europe is where UK governments often end up. Burnham will too.” 

“The politically astute move is to realise this from the start and find a way to manage a process towards it.”