Chief Minister’s New Year message

This is the full text of a New Year message by

, broadcast on GBC on Tuesday night.

My dear fellow Gibraltarians, I hope that you have enjoyed the Christmas and Hanukkah break with your families.

I know that not everyone has had a lovely family break.

Those of you with physical, emotional or other problems should know that you are in the thoughts of the rest of us in the community.

Our nation is defined by how we care for those with problems. That is what makes us who we are. It is what makes us strong. It is what makes us, The Gibraltarians.

And in a world that has seen so much violence, pain and turmoil in the past five years, it is a privilege to be a Gibraltarian or simply to be resident in Gibraltar.

Indeed, it seems remarkable that we have now lived through the first quarter of the twenty first century.

For more than half of that time, I have had the privilege of being your elected leader as the Socialist and Liberal parties have, together, formed successive Governments.

It has been a time of changes and challenges.

A time of hard situations resolved through hard work.

A time of difficult choices resolved by taking difficult decisions in the interests of our people.

But not all issues are yet resolved.

And in this last term in office as your Chief Minister, I am determined to resolve the key outstanding issues that remain.

For many Gibraltarians housing is one of those issues.

We have resolved matters for many with the affordable housing we have already built.

But we must build more and not just for affordable housing.

To do that, we must address two key factors: Identifying the land on which to build; and how to fund the projects.

Today, in order to progress on the first of these factors, the Government has completed heads of terms with the TNG Foundation for a deal to reclaim land to build more affordable homes.

This new reclamation will be inside the harbour, in front of Harbour Views Promenade.

I will be making a detailed statement when the contractual arrangements are finalised.

Importantly, the key aspect of this deal is that it does not require the Government to fund the cost of the reclamation up front.

Additionally, in the next months I expect to be able to make announcements about the new homes to be built under Government schemes there and elsewhere.

These will include homes for rental to add to the Government rental housing stock.

But I also want to be clear about one thing: As we get larger we must define clearly who is entitled to the many benefits that our nation provides to its citizens.

Housing, access to the services of our Health Authority and student scholarships are the flagship benefits that we enjoy in Gibraltar.

It is time to ensure that our rules are clearly drawn to provide these benefits to our people and not to those who may move here simply to benefit from them.

In coming months we will, also, therefore be drawing more tightly the entitlement criteria for access to services going forward.

I am sure that there will be widespread support for this throughout the community to ensure the sustainability of these benefits for our children.

I still remember, when I was a child, the work of the first Socialist administration which included the Joint Ventures that transformed our water and telecommunications industries.

Those arrangements were essential to help us deliver the modern utilities that we enjoy today.

I have been very pleased to see these companies come back fully into the control of the Government in my time in office as efficient and productive endeavours.

Because by engaging in partnership with the private sector, we have delivered better public sector output for you.

An approach we will continue where it is necessary in all of our collective interests.

So that we can continue the progress that Gibraltar has made in the past quarter of a century.

This year you will see more of that progress in the digital space.

You will soon be able to use your ID card on your mobile device to identify yourself for public services.

This will happen in the key areas of interaction between you and the Government.

Because we want to make it easier for you to access the services you are entitled to.

Digital technology helps us to do that.

But we must also be wary of its effect on young children.

To this end, we will be working on how best to control the use of mobile phones in schools and access by our youngest children to social media and other damaging online content.

As we will be working also to curtail access by young people to damaging substances like tobacco and vapes.

I want to ensure that we legislate in that space in the first half of the year at the latest.

Because our role as a Government is not to curtail freedoms.

But it is to prevent harm to the most vulnerable in our community.

And our young people are a real example to the world.

The development of sport and culture in our community in the past decades has been remarkable.

With few exceptions young Gibraltarians are achieving well beyond what even my generation could aspire to after the GSLP first introduced scholarships for all in 1988.

In sports and in culture, in academia and in every field, I am proud to see generations of Gibraltarians coming who will eclipse all of us who have come before.

That is what we should all aspire to.

This year we will welcome the Netball World Youth Cup to Gibraltar in September.

I have the trophy already here, in my office, at 6 Convent Place, ready to hand over to the winners.

I know we will also be behind our junior Campions later this year as they challenge for the trophy.

But, of course, the greatest challenge we continue to face is the finalisation of the negotiation on our future relationship with the EU.

Last year, I told you in this address that the final stages of any negotiation require ‘patience and stoic calm’.

That continues to be the case.

I am as impatient as you for a positive resolution.

I know how important these arrangements are for all sectors in Gibraltar.

I know how urgent the promised fluidity is for some, not least for the Campo’s resident cross frontier workers.

But I also know that I will never compromise on the fundamentals that you elected me to defend.

On the fundamentals that our parents and grandparents sacrificed so much for.

And on the fundamentals that I entered politics to protect.

As the negotiations have progressed, we have advanced significantly.

We are very, very close to a deal.

But there is great technical complexity in aspects of this negotiation.

Getting it right means making the right calls on each of those technical aspects.

And there can be derivatives of sovereignty in some details.

So we have to ensure that our proposals protect against all details where they arise.

We have proposed solutions that protect the security of Schengen and the integrity of the Single Market.

Our proposals also protect our fundamental positions.

And if our proposals are accepted, we can do a deal tomorrow.

But even then, as the Deputy Chief Minister has reminded us all, whichever way the negotiation ends, we will have a very different manner of interaction with the EU in future.

No Deal will be hard.

But I know that, however hard, No Deal would be better for you and for me than a deal that compromises our fundamentals.

A treaty will also mean that we have to change how we do things.

It will mean introducing parts of the European rules that we never belonged to when we were members of the EU but not in Schengen or the Single Market.

It will mean the introduction of new arrangements for immigration that will deliver maximum fluidity at the frontier.

It will mean the introduction of new rules for the arrival of goods into Gibraltar and a sales tax.

And we will enter into those arrangements if they are the safe and secure option we need to protect our people and our nation. But not otherwise.

We will enter into those arrangements if they are going to be beneficial to our businesses and preserve our way of life. But not otherwise.

Because when I tell you on National Day each year that I will not sacrifice one breath of our air, one drop of our water or one grain of our land, I mean it.

So, when others talk about being able to do better deals more quickly, I know that you realise that they can only be lying to you.

For that reason, I know you will want to continue to allow us to negotiate, however long it takes, to get the right deal for Gibraltar.

However fed up you and I may be, I know you will not want us to give up on trying to negotiate the right deal.

And that you will equally not want us to give up anything fundamental for the sake of getting just any deal.

That challenge is one I continue to purse with all the vigour of a parent wanting to deliver the very best for his children.

For that is what now drives me the most.

Delivering a Gibraltar fit to set off successfully on the journey into the second quarter of the twenty first century.

For my children and for yours. For our children.

And I will do so, every day that I remain your leader, despite the constant and unremitting negativity of social media.

Despite unconstructive opposition.

Because in a hugely challenging world, Gibraltar continues to thrive.

Our lives in Gibraltar continue to be blessed and bountiful.

And our children, our elderly and our vulnerable are safe and well looked after.

That is worth more than anything. And it is worth fighting for.

So, on behalf of Sebastian, Oliver, Valentina, Olivia, Anna and myself, I wish you all a very healthy, happy and prosperous 2025.

Good luck to each of you individually in all of your endeavours this year.