Election will have ‘no impact’ on UK’s sovereignty pledge - Picardo
The UK’s general election will be closely followed here but will have no impact on Britain’s ‘cast iron’ sovereignty guarantee to Gibraltar, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said yesterday.
While Mr Picardo acknowledged that the election would have direct consequences for Gibraltar, he refrained from commenting in any detail following Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement yesterday.
“We will see what the result is,” he said.
“What I can tell you from the point of view of Gibraltar is that we enjoy support across the benches in the United Kingdom parliament, across the party political divide, and therefore the result of the general election in the United Kingdom will not in any way affect the cast iron commitment there is to the sovereignty and people of Gibraltar from the Westminster parliament.”
The Chief Minister said that “as a political buff” he will be following the election campaign closely.
“Of course this general election has consequences for Gibraltar and I think it is important for us to observe very carefully where the argument goes in the context of the debates in the United Kingdom in the general election,” he said.
“But I’m sure we will be very engaged in seeing what the result of the election produces, not just in terms of seats in parliament but in particular where the argument goes in respect of the process of Brexit which we’re now engaged in.”
“I think it will be a fascinating period.”