Meeting in London with Lord Cameron

Following meetings in Madrid to discuss the border treaty the previous week, Gibraltar  Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Deputy Joseph Garcia were in the UK on January 29.

Gibraltar Border Treaty

They met Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron and Minister for Europe Leo Docherty to discuss latest developments in relation to the UK-EU treaty as well as contingency plans for a non- negotiated outcome (NNO).

This is the first time that Lord Cameron and Mr Picardo have met face to face since the former returned to the UK Government as Foreign Secretary although they met several times during his time as Prime Minister.

Border crossing often time consuming

Perhaps these meetings in Madrid and London point towards an imminent settlement of the Treaty but currently, crossing the border often entails long queues either way and strict imposition of Schengen regulations by the Spanish authorities.

Voting rights in the UK

Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister addressed the All Party Gibraltar Group in Westminster, and appeared before the Procedure Committee of the House of Commons where he said the UK Government’s new “Votes for Life” policy mean all Gibraltarians who have previously lived in the UK, for example as students, can now register to vote in its general elections – regardless of how long ago they lived there.

As there is no formal mechanism to ensure that the people of Gibraltar have any constitutional right to be heard in the Houses of Parliament, he believes that the time is now right to review this situation.