Gibraltar military base will remain 'unfettered' under treaty, Doughty tells Commons

The British military base in Gibraltar will continue to “operate unfettered” once the UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar is implemented, the House of Commons was told this week.

Stephen Doughty, the Minister for Europe, North America and the Overseas Territories, was being quizzed during a debate on Tuesday, a day after he appeared before the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee along with Chief Minister Fabian Picardo to take questions on the treaty.

“The naval base in Gibraltar is of high strategic importance and the decision to allow the Spanish authorities to monitor equipment going to the British military is highly concerning,” said Conservative MP Peter Fortune.

“Will the minister guarantee that the treaty will neither directly nor indirectly in any way limit the operations, access or security of the UK naval base?”

Mr Doughty repeated a message he has made clear throughout the treaty negotiation and since its publication earlier this year.

“I can absolutely assure the honourable gentleman of that,” he replied.

“We would not have signed off the deal without those assurances.”

“The Ministry of Defence, the Defence Secretary and others were fully involved at all stages of the process.”

“We have been very clear that the treaty protects the operational autonomy of our military facilities, which will continue to operate unfettered, as they do today.”

Mr Doughty also stressed the UK Government and Gibraltar Government’s position that the treaty had no impact on Gibraltar’s British sovereignty.

“It is important to note that Gibraltar’s sovereignty was never on the table in the negotiations,” Mr Doughty said.

“We have been very clear about that throughout.”

“The agreement has been supported by and worked through with the Government of Gibraltar throughout, and it was unanimously supported by Gibraltar’s Parliament. That is very important to note in this House.”

Wendy Morton, Mr Doughty’s Conservative shadow, said MPs had not yet been provided with the detail of when the treaty will be formally presented and debated in the UK Parliament as part of the ratification process, even though it is expected to come into provisional implementation on July 15.

“Will the minister set out a clear timetable for implementation and confirm when Parliament will be given proper time to scrutinise the full details?” she asked Mr Doughty.

“Will he guarantee that scrutiny under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act [CRaG] process will take place before provisional application?”

Mr Doughty repeated the position he had set out before the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee earlier in the week.

“The timetable is not entirely in our control, because it relates to the other party in the treaty, the EU, and its processes,” he said.

“You will know that I brought forward the entire text of the draft treaty so that this House had a chance to scrutinise it.”

“I have also provided briefings to the right honourable lady and her colleague, [shadow foreign secretary] Priti Patel, as I did yesterday in the Foreign Affairs Committee.”

“We will follow the CRaG process in the usual way.”

“I will ensure that the House is kept fully informed and is able to scrutinise as appropriate.”

Defence issues were also raised in a series of parliamentary questions tabled by Reform UK MP Andrew Rosindell, who asked whether the UK Government had discussed Spain’s ban on military overflights through Spanish airspace.

“The Defence and Foreign Secretaries meet regularly with their Spanish counterparts to discuss a range of issues of shared strategic interest,” replied Alistair Carns, the Minister for Veterans and parliamentary under-secretary at the Ministry of Defence.

“These recent interactions have not included discussion on the transit through Spanish airspace of UK military aircraft arriving at or departing from RAF Gibraltar.”

In other questions, Mr Rosindell also asked whether “unilateral policy decisions” by Spain impacted access to the base in Gibraltar or its operational freedom, and what assessment he had made of Spanish policy on NATO interoperability and collective defence in the western Mediterranean.

He also wanted to know whether the UK had any contingency arrangements in place to ensure uninterrupted defence and security support for Gibraltar should access through Spanish airspace or facilities be restricted.

“RAF Gibraltar continues to operate as a sovereign UK military airfield, and the current overflight restrictions by Spain does not impede our operational freedom with respect to aircraft movements and does not impact NATO interoperability in the region,” Mr Carns said.

“The draft Agreement reached between the UK and the European Union in respect of Gibraltar fully protects the UK’s sovereignty, access and operational freedom in Gibraltar,” he added.