Jason MoorePalma27/11/2018 18:06
TW

It was a tale of two stories on Sunday: in the red corner Spain's Pedro Sanchez declared victory in talks over the future of Gibraltar while in the blue corner Theresa May also declared victory over the future of Gibraltar. So who is right and who is wrong? Well to be honest I suspect they are both wrong and both right. May declares that Gibraltar is British and will remain so and Spain calls for joint soverignty again.

So, nothing has really changed. But both Sanchez and May are on difficult ground. In Andalusia, which borders Gibraltar, there are elections next week and Sanchez's socialists are hoping to do well. If it had appeared that Sanchez had surrendered to the European Union over Gibraltar in the Brexit deal, then he would have been in trouble and his party would have felt it at the ballot box. Therefore, Sanchez proclaims victory.

For May, Gibraltar is only a very small part of the problem. She must now get parliament to approve her Brexit deal and there is opposition left, right and centre. There is some concern that the British Prime Minister may have sold out Gibraltar in her hurry to get the Brexit deal approved by the EU. But British diplomats and the government of Gibraltar were quick to say yesterday that nothing has changed. I do believe that Spain has lost an opportunity, though. Instead of acting as a bully towards the people of Gibraltar it could always use diplomacy - much more sensible.