CM to meet Foreign Secretary in London on Wednesday

The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia flew to London on Tuesday to meet with the UK’s new Foreign Secretary, David Lammy.

This will be the first face-to-face formal contact with the new UK Government since the general election, although the Chief Minister has already spoken to Mr Lammy by telephone.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relations with the bloc.

On Monday, El Pais reported that Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will also meet Mr Lammy in London in the coming days, as treaty negotiators try to get the deal over the line ahead of changes due to come into force in November to automate EU immigration procedures, including at the Rock’s border with Spain.

If the discussions are fruitful, they could potentially clear the way for another top-level summit in Brussels.

There were two high-level summits in Brussels before the summer that brought together the then UK Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, Mr Albares, the EU’s chief negotiator Maros Sefcovic, and Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, but both meetings failed to seal the agreement.

A number of thorny issues remain unresolved, including the practical arrangements of how Schengen controls would be carried out in Gibraltar should an agreement be reached.

The Attorney General, Michael Llamas, was already in London and will also join the meeting with Mr Lammy today.

Mr Picardo and Dr Garcia return to Gibraltar on Thursday.