Commons parliamentary group on Gibraltar holds first meeting

The All-Party Parliamentary Group [APPG] on Gibraltar held its formative and inaugural meeting of the new parliament at the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Amanda Martin, the Labour MP for Portsmouth North, was elected as the new Chair of the APPG, succeeding Conservative MP Sir Bob Neill who stood down from frontline politics ahead of the UK’s recent general election.

Martin Vickers, a long-standing Conservative MP member of the previous APPG on Gibraltar, was elected as a Vice-Chair, along with former Minister for Europe, Conservative MP Wendy Morton, and newly-elected Liberal Democrat MP Alasdair Pinkerton.

Following the election of officers, MPs and Peers were given an overview of the current situation in Gibraltar by Gibraltar’s UK Representative, Dominque Searle.

MPs from the four largest parties in Westminster – Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party – were all present at the inaugural meeting.

The Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party were also represented at the meeting, reinforcing the broad cross-party support that Gibraltar receives across Westminster.

In total, well over the new requirement of MPs and Peers signed up as interested in attending future meetings of the Gibraltar parliamentary group.

Under the new rules established for APPGs, the formation of the group will be ratified by the Speaker of the House of Commons in the coming days to ensure compliance.