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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