A LEADING Reform UK MP has said his right-wing party would form ‘the most pro-Gibraltar government that has ever existed’ and suggested the Rock could be represented at Westminster by its own elected MP.
Andrew Rosindell, the MP for Romford who defected from the Conservatives at the start of the year, made the comments last week at a Gibraltar reception at Reform’s party conference in Birmingham.
He was joined by Nigel Feetham, Gibraltar’s minister for justice, trade and industry, who described the Rock as part of the British ‘family’ and set out the importance of the UK-EU treaty to Gibraltar’s economy.
Feetham highlighted the territory’s reliance on cross-frontier workers, with around 14,000 of Gibraltar’s 32,000-strong workforce living across the border in Spain.
READ MORE: Gibraltar hits back after Reform MP suggests the Rock could be used to process future asylum seekers
He also criticised UK tax policy, arguing that raising taxes on Gibraltar’s gaming and gambling sector risks driving business towards the black market.
Rosindell, whose party is led by Brexit architect Nigel Farage, said Tony Blair’s government’s talks with Spain in the early 2000s over joint-sovereignty of Gibraltar amounted to a ‘betrayal’, and pledged that Gibraltar’s right to self-determination would be protected.
He also criticised successive Labour and Conservative governments over their treatment of Britain’s Overseas Territories, pointing to the Chagos Islands deal as a particular example.
Rosindell said a future Reform government would rename the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office back to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and seek to give Gibraltar and other British Overseas Territories their own elected representation at parliament in Westminster.
He pointed to Denmark, the Netherlands and France as examples of countries where territories have elected representatives in their national parliaments, while stressing that this would not affect Gibraltar’s existing powers of self-government.
He said: “I will continue to stand up for Gibraltar and all our proud British Overseas Territories because, ladies and gentlemen, they have given their loyalty to us and we owe our loyalty to them.
“Thank you for your support for Gibraltar. I promise you all that Reform UK in government will be the most pro-Gibraltar government that has ever existed, and I hope one day Nigel [Feetham], you will sit with me in the House of Commons as the first MP for Gibraltar.”
Gibraltar and the other British Overseas Territories do not currently elect MPs to Westminster because they are constitutionally separate from the UK with their own government and legislatures.
Their interests are instead represented through their respective governments and the UK government, which is responsible for international relations and defence.
The comments come ahead of this week’s National Day celebrations in Gibraltar, held every September 10 to commemorate Gibraltar’s first sovereignty referendum in 1967, which saw 99.64 per cent of eligible voters support remaining under British sovereignty.
A delegation of eight cross-party MPs and peers will visit Gibraltar for National Day, including Rosindell.
HM Government of Gibraltar was approached for comment.
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