The treaty Gibraltar wants, for the future we all need

By Chief Minister Fabian Picardo

For over five years, Gibraltar has been at the centre of one of the most complex, technical, and geopolitically sensitive negotiations undertaken by the United Kingdom and the European Union since Brexit.

The process has consumed me. It has occupied close to half of my time in elected office, taken over almost every waking hour of the last five years, and, in truth, deprived the people of Gibraltar of their Chief Minister in the way they are used to having him, that is, from fixing housing and parking complaints to defending their sovereignty in the international arena. For much longer than I would have wanted I have been behind closed doors, in physical or virtual boardrooms, working through the details of a document that will shape the next generation of our people.

It has been a relentless, exhausting endeavour. Throughout this time, the UK and Gibraltar teams have worked together seamlessly, “hand in glove”, without a flash of daylight between us. We have worked in close partnership with both Conservative and Labour Prime Ministers and Foreign Secretaries; from Dominic Raab, Liz Truss and James Cleverly to David Cameron and now David Lammy. What we have negotiated is not the product of fragmented agendas, but the position of a unified British family determined to find a solution worthy of our people.

Without a treaty, Gibraltar could be staring down the barrel of a hard border, marked by endless queues, disrupted supply chains, and a deeply uncertain future for many of our businesses. Our hospitals and elderly care homes would face chronic understaffing, and the surrounding region would suffer the almost certain loss of employment for many of the some 15,000 cross-border workers who depend on Gibraltar’s economy to support their families.

The services we deliver to our people would all come under strain. Our public finances would be pushed to the brink. The self-governing Gibraltar we have built would be diminished, replaced by something poorer, more isolated, more inward-looking, and ultimately less able to thrive as a proud, British European Territory.

Instead, we now stand at the threshold of something remarkable, and not just for Gibraltar, but also for the United Kingdom, for Spain and for Europe and our people. Something bold. Something forward-looking and hopeful. Something that finally breaks free of the negative inertia that has defined too much of our recent past.

This is politics at its most elevated. The service-led principle of working for our people’s benefit and not the performative personal antagonism that too often infects public life. Real, hard graft that overcomes challenges to deliver progress. This is the kind of result our people demand when they voice distrust and decry the political “establishment”.

Our Spanish and EU counterparts, for their part, have brought to the table a seriousness of purpose that also reflects the gravity of the moment. They, too, have recognised that this treaty is not merely about fluidity of movement, but about unlocking human and economic potential across borders.

Make no mistake: the treaty that is now within reach is not one that the Gibraltarians have been forced to accept. Our people voted for us to have a mandate to turn our New Year’s Eve agreement of 2020 into a UK/EU agreement/treaty.

So we say “YES” to this agreement, but not because we don’t know how to say “NO” when we have to. We did so, emphatically, in 2002, when we triggered a referendum to reject Jack Straw’s proposal of joint sovereignty with Spain, and I am just as adamant today that this treaty will not in any way compromise British Sovereignty over Gibraltar. That will be set out, black upon white, in the treaty when it is published. It is a legal undertaking given by both sides in clear and unequivocal terms.

So to be clear: in this treaty we have not ceded any control of the Gibraltar to any authority. Just like today, only Gibraltar will decide who enters Gibraltar - exactly as we agreed in 2020 when Dominic Raab was Foreign Secretary and Boris Johnson was Prime Minister.

This treaty unleashes the potential to usher in a new era. One in which we move beyond the tired narratives of the past on constant sovereignty disputes, towards a future defined by hope, cooperation and shared prosperity. It will pave the way for better jobs, more investment and lasting stability for Gibraltar and the wider region. It can deliver more harmonious human relations and a better quality of life for all our people. When you read it, I ask that you to look up from the pages of this treaty and see that better reality as it peers back at us from the future.

This will be the treaty Gibraltar wants. It will be a treaty the UK and the EU can be proud of. And it will be a treaty that will propel us all to the better future politicians are elected to deliver.

When the time comes, back Gibraltar and its proudly British people by backing the Gibraltar treaty.

This opinion was first published by The Telegraph on June 12, 2025, and is reproduced here with permission.