Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence


APPENDIX 11

Memorandum submitted by Dr Ken Ruiz

I have contacted you before on the matter of Gibraltar, at times in vitriolic mode incensed by the perceived lack of action (from my perspective) from HMG in respect of 30,000 loyal Britons. The aggression demonstrated by Spain has not abated since Franco's day, they seem unwilling or unable to concede democratic principles and nothing has changed substantially in my entire lifetime. I sincerely wish that you nor Mr Cook personally need ever experience the great burden that is the uncertainty that your very identity shall be taken from you, for that is what Spain proposes to do to me and my fellow Gibraltarians.

  In the passage below, Mr Cook says that no part of Europe receives as much of his attention per capita than does Gibraltar, and that this is what it richly deserves. While thanking Mr Cook for his sentiments and good intentions, I am sure you will concede that though this may be so per capita, the population being so small in relation to France or Italy for example, the actual amount of attention need not be very much at all in order to qualify for this "award" once corrected for the population size.

  Throughout my entire lifetime, the action of HMG has been reactionary to the Spanish threat. Never has HMG been seen to be proactive in order to nullify said threat, and so the UK and Gibraltar is dancing to the tune played by Spain. Is it not about time the dancer became the musician and turned the tables? It can be done so swiftly and easily, in a manner that would not inconvenience the UK, should take but a few weeks' of real-time work (though the process may take some months to implement), would satisfy the aspirations of the Gibraltarians, and simultaneously completely nullify the Spanish threat. Simply put, integrate Gibraltar within the UK.

  That need not be as drastic as it sounds. Gibraltar would not be seeking an Isle of Wight solution, but a Jersey and Guernsey solution. We have seen the steps taken towards a federal UK by the (re)creation of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, and more recently the Northern Ireland Assembly. Gibraltar already has its elected house, the House of Assembly, which enjoys greater powers of self-government that the Scottish, Welsh and Irish institutions put together. Were the UK to be enlarged to incorporate Gibraltar then, the question would be not of devolved powers to its parliament, but retained powers of its Parliament. Overall, the present-day UK would exercise MORE power of Gibraltar than it currently enjoys.

  To do this would not contravene Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht, which would then become wholly irrelevant, so Spain could not even begin to think about opposing this move—though I'm sure they will, as they always do. Ultimately Gibraltar would become as untenable for Spain as is Ilfracombe. Then the enlarged UK could be one, and Gibraltar could not be discriminated against as she is now by Spain in matters pertaining to the EU, and the whole of the UK could not fail to defend all its parts equally for it is true that at times the interests of Gibraltar have not been as robustly defended by Britain in the light of Spanish aggression in the EU. It is true to say that of late the defence of Gibraltar has been more robust than previously thought.


 
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