The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, reacted to the evidence session in which Foreign Secretary Rt Hon Lord David Cameron gave evidence to the European Scrutiny Committee, saying he was impressed but not surprised by Lord Cameron’s grasp of the detail of the Gibraltar negotiation but disappointed by the failure by members of the Committee to understand the constitutional relationship between Gibraltar and the UK and the issues that Brexit has created for Gibraltar.

Mr Picardo said: “David Cameron has been clear in setting out that neither he nor I are going to give way on issues that relate to our sovereignty. Members of the Scrutiny Committee seem, nonetheless, to want to believe everything they read in the newspapers over the evidence they are being given. Additionally they seem to want to turn a nelsonian blind eye to the huge problems that their Brexit has created for Gibraltar and our current economic model. More worrying, there seemed to be a failure to understand some of the issues that arise and how to legally and logically resolve them. Protecting the people of Gibraltar and fully preserving our sovereignty, jurisdiction and control is about more than just asking provocative questions, it‘s about working to bring about deliverable outcomes. I look forward to giving evidence to the Committee and addressing these issues to underline the answers given by Lord Cameron and our commitment to getting the negotiations right. But the ESC need to understand that they are not the decision makers in relation to Gibraltar. The Gibraltarians are, in consultation with the UK Government with which we are working hand in glove.”