The post-Brexit Gibraltar deal is going down badly in Spain
Conservative and Reform politicians have denounced this week's post-Brexit Gibraltar deal as a betrayal. 'Gibraltar is British, and given Labour's record of surrendering our territory and paying for the privilege, we will be reviewing carefully all the details of any agreement that is reached,' Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said. Meanwhile, describing Labour as 'the worst negotiators in history', Nigel Farage called the agreement 'yet another surrender'.
But Spain's right-wing parties have, if possible, been even more damning. José Manuel García-Margallo, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, described the agreement as 'total surrender', the 'absolute renunciation' of Spain's political and economic sovereignty over the Rock.
'All the British companies that want to settle in the EU post-Brexit will now go to Gibraltar,' he predicted, asking rhetorically who will now invest in Spain's neighbouring territory. He dismissed the argument that the pact helps the approximately 15,000 people living in Spain who work in Gibraltar, insisting that Spain, 'the fourth largest economy in the euro should be able to provide a solution for that number of people'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Western Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
More UK jets being sent to the Middle East as Starmer calls for de-escalation
The Prime Minister said further military assets are being deployed to provide 'contingency support' across the region amid escalating hostilities between the two long-time foes. Additional refuelling aircraft have been deployed from UK bases and more fast jets will be sent over, it is understood. The UK already has RAF jets in the Middle East as part of Operation Shader. Speaking to reporters travelling with him on a visit to Canada, Sir Keir declined to rule out intervening in the conflict entirely but made clear he would continue pressing for de-escalation and said the 'intense' developments over the weekend would be discussed in detail at the G7 summit. 'These are obviously operational decisions and the situation is ongoing and developing and therefore I'm not going to get into the precise details, but we are moving assets, we've already been moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support across the region. So that is happening,' he said. Sir Keir added: 'Our constant message is de-escalate, and therefore everything we're doing, all discussions we're having are to do with de-escalation.' Asked whether he would rule out UK involvement, he said: 'I'm not going to get in to that.' Demonstrators in Tehran carry posters of Iranian commanders killed in Friday's Israeli strikes (Vahid Salemi/AP) Britain last announced it had deployed fighter jets in the region in last year, when the Government said British aircraft had played a part in efforts to prevent further escalation. It comes after Iranian state media said Tehran had warned it would target US, UK and French bases in the region if the countries help Israel thwart Iran's strikes, according to reports on Saturday. Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel overnight after a series of Israeli strikes on the heart of Tehran's nuclear programme and armed forces. Tehran's UN ambassador said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded in Israel's attacks, while its response was said to have killed at least three and wounded dozens. Israeli security forces inspect the site of homes destroyed by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP) A Cobra meeting of high-level ministers was convened on Friday afternoon to discuss the situation. The same is not expected on Saturday but Whitehall officials were expected to be meeting. The conflict was ignited by early morning Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear bases on Friday. Israel said the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building a nuclear weapon, although experts and the US government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon. Iran retaliated with waves of drones and ballistic missiles, with explosions lighting up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Both the UK and the US have insisted they were not involved in the Israeli strikes and that the country acted unilaterally. Sir Keir would not be drawn on whether the UK was given notice of Israel's attack after reports that the country was not forewarned following the Government's decision to sanction two far-right Israeli ministers last week. 'In relation to Israel, I had a good and constructive discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, and that included discussions about the safety and security of Israel, as you would expect, between two allies,' he said. Asked if Britain had been told in advance of Israeli's military plans, the Prime Minister said: 'I'm not going to go into what information we had at the time or since. 'But we discuss these things intensely with our allies. But I'm not going to get into precisely what we knew, because it's a constant flow of information between our allies, and between us and the US.'
The Herald Scotland
35 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
More UK jets being sent to the Middle East as Starmer calls for de-escalation
Additional refuelling aircraft have been deployed from UK bases and more fast jets will be sent over, it is understood. The UK already has RAF jets in the Middle East as part of Operation Shader. Speaking to reporters travelling with him on a visit to Canada, Sir Keir declined to rule out intervening in the conflict entirely but made clear he would continue pressing for de-escalation and said the 'intense' developments over the weekend would be discussed in detail at the G7 summit. 'These are obviously operational decisions and the situation is ongoing and developing and therefore I'm not going to get into the precise details, but we are moving assets, we've already been moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support across the region. So that is happening,' he said. Sir Keir added: 'Our constant message is de-escalate, and therefore everything we're doing, all discussions we're having are to do with de-escalation.' Asked whether he would rule out UK involvement, he said: 'I'm not going to get in to that.' Demonstrators in Tehran carry posters of Iranian commanders killed in Friday's Israeli strikes (Vahid Salemi/AP) Britain last announced it had deployed fighter jets in the region in last year, when the Government said British aircraft had played a part in efforts to prevent further escalation. It comes after Iranian state media said Tehran had warned it would target US, UK and French bases in the region if the countries help Israel thwart Iran's strikes, according to reports on Saturday. Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel overnight after a series of Israeli strikes on the heart of Tehran's nuclear programme and armed forces. Tehran's UN ambassador said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded in Israel's attacks, while its response was said to have killed at least three and wounded dozens. Israeli security forces inspect the site of homes destroyed by a missile fired from Iran, in Rishon Lezion, Israel (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP) A Cobra meeting of high-level ministers was convened on Friday afternoon to discuss the situation. The same is not expected on Saturday but Whitehall officials were expected to be meeting. The conflict was ignited by early morning Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear bases on Friday. Israel said the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building a nuclear weapon, although experts and the US government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon. Iran retaliated with waves of drones and ballistic missiles, with explosions lighting up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Both the UK and the US have insisted they were not involved in the Israeli strikes and that the country acted unilaterally. Sir Keir would not be drawn on whether the UK was given notice of Israel's attack after reports that the country was not forewarned following the Government's decision to sanction two far-right Israeli ministers last week. 'In relation to Israel, I had a good and constructive discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, and that included discussions about the safety and security of Israel, as you would expect, between two allies,' he said. Asked if Britain had been told in advance of Israeli's military plans, the Prime Minister said: 'I'm not going to go into what information we had at the time or since. 'But we discuss these things intensely with our allies. But I'm not going to get into precisely what we knew, because it's a constant flow of information between our allies, and between us and the US.'
The National
36 minutes ago
- The National
UK jets being sent to the Middle East despite calls for de-escalation
The Prime Minister said further military assets are being deployed to provide 'contingency support' across the region amid escalating hostilities between the two long-time foes. Additional refuelling aircraft have been deployed from UK bases and more fast jets will be sent over, it is understood. The UK already has RAF jets in the Middle East as part of Operation Shader. READ MORE: Israel warns 'Tehran will burn' if Iran continues firing missiles in retaliation Speaking to reporters travelling with him on a visit to Canada, Starmer declined to rule out intervening in the conflict entirely but made clear he would continue pressing for de-escalation and said the 'intense' developments over the weekend would be discussed in detail at the G7 summit. 'These are obviously operational decisions and the situation is ongoing and developing and therefore I'm not going to get into the precise details, but we are moving assets, we've already been moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support across the region. So that is happening,' he said. Starmer added: 'Our constant message is de-escalate, and therefore everything we're doing, all discussions we're having are to do with de-escalation.' Asked whether he would rule out UK involvement, he said: 'I'm not going to get in to that.' (Image: Ben Birchall/PA Wire) Britain last announced it had deployed fighter jets in the region in last year, when the UK Government said British aircraft had played a part in efforts to prevent further escalation. It comes after Iranian state media said Tehran had warned it would target US, UK and French bases in the region if the countries help Israel thwart Iran's strikes, according to reports on Saturday. Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel overnight after a series of Israeli strikes on the heart of Tehran's nuclear programme and armed forces. Tehran's UN ambassador said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded in Israel's attacks, while its response was said to have killed at least three and wounded dozens. READ MORE: Why did Israel attack Iran and have they again broken international law? A Cobra meeting of high-level ministers was convened on Friday afternoon to discuss the situation. The same is not expected on Saturday but Whitehall officials were expected to be meeting. The conflict was ignited by early morning Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear bases on Friday. Israel said the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building a nuclear weapon, although experts and the US government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon. Iran retaliated with waves of drones and ballistic missiles, with explosions lighting up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Both the UK and the US have insisted they were not involved in the Israeli strikes and that the country acted unilaterally. Starmer would not be drawn on whether the UK was given notice of Israel's attack after reports that the country was not forewarned following the Government's decision to sanction two far-right Israeli ministers last week. 'In relation to Israel, I had a good and constructive discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, and that included discussions about the safety and security of Israel, as you would expect, between two allies,' he said. Asked if Britain had been told in advance of Israeli's military plans, the Prime Minister said: 'I'm not going to go into what information we had at the time or since. 'But we discuss these things intensely with our allies. But I'm not going to get into precisely what we knew, because it's a constant flow of information between our allies, and between us and the US.'
