Picardo in terse exchange with Rees-Mogg over Gib tweet

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg drew a stinging response from Chief Minister Fabian Picardo after wading into the discussion on the Gibraltar treaty.

Mr Rees-Mogg shared a link to a Daily Mail article that reported the EU could turn away British visitors to Gibraltar in the event of a treaty.

“Clearly Fabian Picardo, the Chief Minister, no longer wants the inconvenience to Gibraltar of being British so he must want it to be Spanish,” Mr Rees-Mogg wrote on X.

The Chief Minister was swift to respond and left no doubt as to what he thought of Mr Rees-Mogg’s observation.

“I am sorry to say that [Jacob Rees-Mogg] clearly has not even started to understand the complexity of the issues that arise for #Gibraltar as a result of #Brexit,” Mr Picardo wrote in reply.

“BRITISH is what Gibraltar is and will always be. BRITISH is what I and all my fellow Gibraltarians are and will always be.”

“It is cheap and wrong for anyone to suggest we would ever consider our BRITISH nationality, heritage and birthright an ‘inconvenience’.”

“We are negotiating for fluid travel, immigration and trade arrangements, not sovereignty.”

“Happy to brief Mr Rees-Mogg if he really has the remotest interest...”

I am sorry to say that @Jacob_Rees_Mogg clearly has not even started to understand the complexity of the issues that arise for #Gibraltar as a result of #Brexit. BRITISH is what Gibraltar is and will always be. BRITISH is what I and all my fellow Gibraltarians are and will always… https://t.co/fm7TSfZTa0

— Fabian Picardo (@FabianPicardo) May 21, 2024