Just when you thought Labour couldn't stoop any lower, along comes Gibraltar, writes Suella Braverman

12 June 2025, 14:33 | Updated: 13 June 2025, 07:48

By Suella Braverman

After the revelation that Lammy and Starmer’s Surrender deal of the Chagos Islands would mean that £30bn worth of British taxpayer money will be helping the Mauritian government to cut their taxes, raise their wages and pay off their national debt, one hoped it couldn’t get any worse.

But just when one thought British diplomacy couldn’t stoop any lower, along comes Gibraltar.

This time the cost is less obviously financial, but the price is something far greater: sovereignty.

The government insists, of course, that there is nothing to worry about.

The new deal, we’re told, is all about “practical arrangements.” No constitutional change. British sovereignty, says David Lammy, “remains intact.” He points to a ‘sovereignty clause’.

But no official treaty has been published. No legal text. Merely a parliamentary statement made up of word salad, a handful of digital infographics and hyperactive posting on X.

For something as constitutionally sensitive as Gibraltar -a British Overseas Territory since 1713- this lack of transparency is telling. In fact, it’s a red flag.

What do we know? According to the Gibraltarian government’s own statements, Spanish officials will now be posted inside Gibraltar’s airport and sea port, with powers to screen and reject travellers.

Spain’s Foreign Minister has been less guarded, confirming that those who breach Schengen’s 90/180-day rule could be turned away.

This is, in effect, a Schengen border post inside British territory. For the first time, the EU -and Spain -will hold a form of operational control over who can enter Gibraltar.

This isn’t administrative tinkering. It is a creeping constitutional change, effected without a vote, without scrutiny, and certainly without the consent of the British public -or the Gibraltarians, who in 2002 rejected joint sovereignty with Spain by 99%.

If Spain and the EU can now effectively deny entry to British nationals in Gibraltar, what exactly remains of British sovereignty?

Labour’s response? Obfuscation and waffle.

The same kind of wilful amnesia that surrounded the Chagos affair. It is part of a wider pattern: the quiet reabsorption of British territories into the EU orbit, one inch at a time.

Northern Ireland was the first test case. Gibraltar may prove the second.

Spain has long disputed Britain’s claim to the Rock. Its argument rests on an arcane reading of Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht - a clause it has never had the confidence to test in court.

Yet here we are, with a British government giving ground that Madrid could never win through law or diplomacy.

It’s worth recalling what Gibraltar means to its people. Its 2006 Constitution gave it internal self-government while reaffirming the UK’s responsibility for defence and external affairs. Its residents are fiercely proud of their British identity.

They are loyal, strategic partners in defence and security. And yet they are being treated as pawns in a game of geopolitical appeasement.

Perhaps Ministers believe they have secured a pragmatic deal. But even they must recognise that border control is the sharp edge of sovereignty.

A state that cannot control who enters its territory is not, in any meaningful sense, sovereign. As the thin end of the wedge, and judging by the EU’s behaviour on Northern Ireland, one can only foresee a further erosion of UK authority over Gibraltar over time.

The truth is that none of the words uttered by David Lammy make a difference. No post on X, however long its thread, counts. What really matters are the legal powers on the ground and the real-world effect. Gibraltar will, de facto, be treated as part of Schengen, wholly incompatibly with UK sovereign territoriality.

There’s a pattern emerging here. Britain seems increasingly eager to apologise for its past, even as it betrays its present.

The message this deal sends -to our allies, to our overseas territories, to the EU -is that British sovereignty is negotiable and, in exchange for the plaudits of international liberal elites, this government will bargain it away. That the price of post-Brexit calm is perpetual concession.

No one expects confrontation with Spain. But we might expect a little more backbone from His Majesty’s Government. We owe that, at the very least, to the people of Gibraltar.

____________

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email [email protected]