Garcia updates Liberal Democrats as conference season begins - 594/2024

The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia has said that although Gibraltar prefers a treaty to govern our relationship with the European Union, there are fundamental red lines which the Government is not prepared to cross in order to achieve it. Dr Garcia was speaking in Brighton today (Monday) at the annual party conference of the U.K. Liberal Democrats.

This marks the start of the main political conference season in the United Kingdom. The Government of Gibraltar will again host a reception at each of the main party conferences, and in addition to this will man an exhibition stand.

The Liberal Democrat conference commenced on Saturday and will run until Tuesday. It will be followed by the Labour Party conference which opens in Liverpool on Sunday and will provide the opportunity to engage, at that level, with the newly elected UK Government in this forum for the first time. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are set to gather in Birmingham from 29 September until 2 October.

The Chief Minister or the Deputy Chief Minister, supported by other Ministers as necessary, will alternately address delegates at these different events, which will provide for contact with senior figures from across the Westminster political spectrum.

In Brighton, Dr Garcia participated in a discussion panel entitled "Small British Nations: What we want from the EU?". He outlined the position Gibraltar found itself in, through no fault of our own, when the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in 2016. He was joined on the panel by Lord Purvis, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs spokesperson in the House of Lords and the CEO of the European Movement Sir Nick Harvey. The meeting was chaired by Baroness Lindsay Northover.

The Deputy Chief Minister told a Liberal Democrat audience that the Gibraltar treaty currently under negotiation was very different to the one that the U.K. had concluded for itself in 2020. "Whereas the U.K. sought to put up barriers, checkpoints and controls to border fluidity, Gibraltar seeks to do the very opposite," he explained.

Commenting on the conference, Dr Garcia said:

"The atmosphere was very positive and the party was obviously buoyed by its electoral showing of over 70 seats. Gibraltar has many friends in the Liberal Democrats and it was very good to renew contact with old ones and to develop relationships with the many new MPs.

Lord Jeremy Purvis, the party's foreign affairs spokesperson made a very supportive contribution during the very well attended Government reception, where he declared that the future of Gibraltar is in the hands of the people of Gibraltar.

I must thank Dominique Searle and the team at Gibraltar House for their ongoing lobbying efforts and indeed for ensuring that everything run so smoothly once again."