British MPs have called for Royal Navy gunboats to be sent to Gibraltar.

It comes as pressure grows on the British Government to act against Spanish ‘harassment’ of British citizens in the enclave.

In a heated House of Commons debate MPs from across the political spectrum rounded on the recent behavior of border guards, who opened a UK diplomatic sack.

They also heavily criticised the treatment of citizens going in out of the border.

Conservative MP Peter Bone said, “Would the minister not agree that to build up more trust for Gibraltarians, would it not be a good idea for some Royal Navy ships to make a goodwill visit there – preferably a couple of gun boats?”

Another Conservative MP, Andrew Rosindell, echoed the sentiment asking, “Isn’t it time to send the ambassador of Spain back to Madrid?”

The Spanish Government told minister of state for Europe David Lidington that it had opened the diplomatic bag by accident, describing it as a “junior procedural error.”

The Tory criticism was back by some Labour members, with Sir Gerald Kaufman saying, “This is a whole succession of harassment after harassment and it will not do. I have to say that the softly softly approach of this government is simply not working.”

Subscribe to the Olive Press

22 COMMENTS

  1. Colonel Blimps thunder their disapproval. Gunboats. That will put the wind up those uppity natives. The Royal Navy scares the Hell out of ’em. Then, to gain the confidence of the rebels, we could send them some mirrors and beads. After all, how could such ignorant savages recognise a diplomatic bag?
    They probably hoped it contained firewater.

  2. You may jest stefanjo, but the fact remains that the sacred trust one NATO partner should have with the other’s actions is fast getting frayed at the edges. If Spain wants to be regarded as a serious EU member and NATO partner it should start acting like one and stop acting as a banana republic where Gibraltar is concerned.

  3. Last week our Minister of Defence stood up to the Despatch box of the House of Commons and told the watchers and listeners that the Spanish Navy had NEVER entered British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. The day our Royal Navy is ordered to open fire on unarmed ships with intent to endanger the lives of their crews, of whichever nation, on innocent passage, even if they have strayed into the waters of Her Majesty’s duck pond in Buckingham Palace, is the day BRITAIN becomes the banana republic.

  4. It is just how Jose Antonis de Yturriaga, the former Spanish Ambassador of Ireland, Iraq, Ireland and Russia said in 2010, ‘The Spanish position on the issue of Gibraltar’s territorial waters was weak and lacked any legal basis.’

  5. No I’m sorry, the defense budget does not allow for a major RN presence around the rock. Instead all you get are encouraging words from the FCO, but that is better than nothing, anyway, time for tapas and beer. Hope the queues are not too bad this weekend!

  6. I used the term ‘Banana Republic’ advisedly, in that if the Royal Navy is tasked to commit murder in the cause of a Gibraltarian fishing dispute, when Gibraltar doesn’t even have a fishing industry, then the time will have come to guillotine the Queen, rip down the Union Jack, replace it with some sort of tricolour effort, and wrap-up and parcel off Stongehenge to the Chinese. My point being that a British warship in Gibraltarian waters is as useful as a soluble fishing net. Except as a vote-winner.

  7. There is little point in sending warships to Gibraltar if you are not going to use them. As irritating as Rajoy is we are not going to fire on ships armed or otherwise just for entering territorial waters. That would be playing right into Rajoy’s hands. There are other means at the UK governments disposal if they have the cajones to use them.

  8. Peter, cajones means drawers in Spanish, so you are saying that the British Government has a better option than sending down the RN if they have a set of drawers. I guess the idea is to throw some old furniture into the so called BGTW,,,,interesting strategy!!

  9. Sending warships would be pointless and only exacerbate the problem. If the children continue throwing stones and running through the garden, the adults may well have to take serious measures, of which there are numerous.
    But even the Brits cannot civilise a banana republic if the majority of its citizens refuse change.
    I think its time for the EU to accept a two tier Europe, where the PIGS can continue destroying their own countries, ruin their economies and childrens’ futures, and be all nationalistic – and the civilized countries can drop the dead weight and move onwards and upwards…

  10. Big Jon,

    The order from Berlin is for the EU to go towards full integration whether the UK likes it or not.

    I think the day the UK leaves the EU, there will be celebrations not only in the UK, but all over Europe.

    At last something that we can all agree on and celebrate!

  11. How much do the proudly British citizens of Gibraltar pay towards these British warships?

    Its about time that Gibraltar started paying British tax if they are so keen on being British and making use of Britain’s military.

  12. Cuidadonas,
    have you spoken with any Germans recently or Dutch or Danes – no ordinary people in northern Europe want this charade of a corrupt system to continue. It’s only these scum who want the EU to continue in it’s present form.

    How can you expect us notherners to continue being ripped off by the corrupt south – we don’t need you, we can cut you adrift and financially we will all be a lot better off.

  13. i read with interest about how spain *sold* gib to the jews. And then killed them. As this predates the british should we entertain the notion of *returning* the rock to Israel?
    Of course not. Just like *giving* the rock to spain is equally ludicrus.

    The EU is proving itself to be useless, ineffective, and impotent *again*. Why should the UK be a member? I understand banana republics getting money to pocket, i understand the open borders for economic migrants, but i ask again – why should any northern country be a member?

    As for the idiotic comments about Gib. Are you serious? When has a Gib citizen made use of britains military? Are you talking about that rubber dingy that foiled the illegal intrusion by spanish extremists?

    I say Gib can have total independence. Let them decide their future – let them join the EU, let them join the Commonwealth… what’ll spain do then, invade? yeah right!

  14. I don’t think there’s any need to bring the EU into this.

    The obvious solution is to persuade the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo and the rest of the town council not to go ahead with the illogical and unecological building of a glorified fishpond.

    Instead, traditional Iberian methods of accounting should be used to keep those on both sides of the border sweet, fill in the disputed waters, and create hundreds of millions, or even billions of pounds worth of newly created terra firma for land-hungry Gibraltar.

    Or do you think the Spanish Government might stick it’s nose in and make a fuss ?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.