UK confident of ‘mutually agreeable’ Brexit deal with Gibraltar and Spain

The UK Government this week reiterated its “longstanding support” for the 2006 Cordoba agreement and signalled confidence that “a mutually agreeable resolution” to practical issues arising from Brexit could be reached with Gibraltar and Spain.

The statement, contained in a response to a question on the airport tabled in the House of Lords, comes just days after PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez replaced the Partido Popular’s Mariano Rajoy as the Prime Minister of Spain.

The Spanish parliament ousted Mr Rajoy and his PP administration following a vote of no confidence over a string of corruption cases, in a move that was welcomed here as an opportunity to recalibrate negotiations over Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relations with Spain that had stalled over the airport.

When last in government, Spain’s Socialists engaged in trilateral dialogue with Gibraltar and the UK and agreed the enhanced use of the airport on terms that respected each side’s red lines on sovereignty.

In the Lords this week, the UK Government was asked by Lord Hoyle, a Freeman of Gibraltar and a longstanding friend of this community, to provide details of any discussions with the government of Spain about the provision of an access point from the Spanish side of the border into Gibraltar Airport.

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