House of Commons Hansard Debates for 24 Feb 1998 (pt 12)

Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome): This is an important debate. Extending the franchise to people who should have a way of representing themselves democratically is very important. I listened carefully to the points made by the right hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire.

Sir Brian Mawhinney: North-West Cambridgeshire

Mr. Heath: I apologise; I was misinformed. The right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire(Sir B. Mawhinney) had five or six minutes of good points and it was good to hear them extended to 28 minutes. He is right to say that it is an old question. Arguably, it goes back to the treaty of Utrecht, which was in some ways an imperfect document, but it was of its time. Nevertheless, it creates anomalies that have yet to be rectified.

One of today's newspapers carries the obituary of a distinguished former Member of the House, Sir David Crouch. One of his earliest activities was arguing for the democratic rights of the people of Gibraltar against the Government of the right hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Sir E. Heath). The matter has exercised hon. Members for many years.

It is an anomaly that Gibraltar is treated, uniquely, as a European Union territory that does not have access to the democratic structures of the European Union. The right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire is right to draw a distinction between Gibraltar and the French departements and territoires d'outre-mer and the Spanish enclaves on the north African coast. He was perhaps disingenuous in not making clear how that anomaly came about. Those territories had democratic representation in their domestic Parliaments at the time of accession to the European Union, whereas Gibraltar has not had that right of representation, nor has it been accepted by this Government or previous ones that it should have that right. It is perhaps something that we should address. The hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay) and I have been considering that carefully in the Foreign Affairs Select Committee when examining the affairs of our dependent territories, which are now the British overseas territories.

5.15 pm

There is also the argument, which I believe no

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longer holds true, that Gibraltar is not fully part of the European Union territories, in that some parts of the acquis communautaire do not apply to the territory of Gibraltar. Indeed, there was an argument that the Government of Gibraltar had not implemented the parts of the acquis communautaire that did apply to it. Mr. Caruana and the present Government of Gibraltar have made considerable strides in bringing Gibraltar into line with its obligations. It is therefore clearly right and opportune that we consider citizenship and the extension of the franchise to Gibraltar.

I disagree with the hon. Member for Thurrock, because I believe that there are difficulties in law. Annexe 2 of the 1976 EC Act on Direct Elections is an impediment. It clearly forms part of the treaty; we have a treaty obligation. I would not be happy if we passed into domestic law something that was clearly not in line with our treaty obligations.

Sir Brian Mawhinney: I did not quite understand the hon. Gentleman's last point. My understanding, which was reinforced by the quotation from Baroness Symons that I read out earlier, is that such action is not outwith the law, and that the difficulty was the need for unanimity. Knowing Spain's attitude to Gibraltar, that would be a difficult task. Is he saying that there is a genuine legal impediment, as opposed to what I might call a handling problem?

Mr. Mackinlay: Test it.

Mr. Heath: I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. The hon. Member for Thurrock says that we should test it. It may need to be tested. I understand that the current advice of the Foreign Office--

Mr. Mackinlay: It is wrong.

Mr. Heath: It may well be wrong, but it is borne out by my reading of the annexe and the treaty. The treaty would have to be amended, and it is that, rather than the treaty's interpretation, which would require unanimity among member states. That advice is not cast solid. A letter from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Foreign Affairs Committee on behalf of Baroness Symons offers to ask legal experts to look again at ways of getting around that apparent difficulty. That is right, but we cannot simply wish it away and say that there is no impediment.

I agree with the hon. Member for Thurrock that there is no clear impediment to representation of the people of Gibraltar here. That is a matter for the will of the British Parliament. The case of the European Parliament is clearly written into a treaty, and we have to find ways either of interpreting it differently from how it has been interpreted so far or of amending it, which would require unanimity.

My last point is a small difference with the right hon. Member North-West Cambridgeshire, who seeks to put Gibraltar into the London region. Those of us from the south-west of England have always felt that, if Gibraltar is to be anywhere, it should be in the south-west. It lies in the western approaches. Like the Scilly Isles, it is a natural extension of the south-west peninsula: keep going and one eventually arrives at

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Gibraltar. That view has been promoted by my friend the Member of the European Parliament for Cornwall and Plymouth, who sees Gibraltar as naturally part of his territory. We shall not fall out over whether Gibraltar, if it ever accedes, should be part of the south-west region or part of the London region, but it is necessary that I should make the case on behalf of my own region.

In short, if the Committee divides, I and my right hon. and hon. Friends will support the amendment. That is not because we believe that it is perfect--we do not; there is still much legal and diplomatic work to be carried out before its aims can be achieved--but to indicate our preference that the people of Gibraltar should have the democratic representation that every other citizen of the European Union has by right. If we can demonstrate that desire to the Government today, perhaps they will do as the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire suggested, look at the matter again and return with workable proposals to make that democratic representation a reality.

Mr. Christopher Gill (Ludlow): I support the three amendments in my name, and those tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Cambridgeshire (Sir B. Mawhinney) and others.

In September of last year, I was privileged to visit Gibraltar with a delegation from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Chief among the many points we noted during our visit was the people of Gibraltar's enthusiasm to remain British and to retain their British nationality. Not the least part of their claim is that they have played an important part in this nation's history and, as the hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay) said, they continue to play an important part. The ships sent to the Gulf during the recent confrontation with Iraq were refuelled and, in some cases, restored and reprovisioned in Gibraltar.

The people of Gibraltar feel strongly that they accept many burdens as a result of their membership of the European Union, but do not necessarily get all the benefits. The subject under discussion this evening is one of the benefits that they are not getting.

I should clear up one misunderstanding--the common belief that the people living in Gibraltar are actually expatriate Spaniards. That is not true: the people living in Gibraltar are generally of Italian extraction, many of whom can trace their ancestry back to Genoa. They are, by any reckoning, European peoples, and they feel aggrieved about the current situation. The whole of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegation recognised their concerns and understood them. I hope that tonight there will be cross-party support in the Lobby for the amendments. It is an issue on which the whole House can unite without fear of establishing any precedent, because Gibraltar is in a unique position.

One of the few redeeming features of the Bill--which, in other aspects, my colleagues and I will oppose--is that it gives the House an opportunity to address a wrong, or to correct what might have been an oversight 25 years ago. As my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Cambridgeshire has pointed out, the Bill represents a new beginning, with new constituencies, new methods of election, a change in the candidate selection procedure, and opportunity to

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include Gibraltar. I hope that the House will bear with me as I read an extract from a letter from the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, which was sent to me in November last year. It states:

"30,000 British Gibraltarians, and other EU Nationals resident in Gibraltar, are the only EU Nationals who have no right to vote at Euro-Elections. This is in stark contrast to citizens of Spanish territories in North Africa, and some French territories even further away, who do vote. The people of Gibraltar have long felt aggrieved by this serious democratic deficit. The position is now even more anomalous following extension of the co-decision procedure, which gives the European Parliament a far more extensive role in the process of legislation which Gibraltar is subsequently required to transpose into our own laws and to implement."

The Gibraltarians are the only European nationals who do not have the vote in European parliamentary elections, but there are other factors to be considered. Gibraltar is geographically part of Europe--that is indisputable; it is ethnically European, as I have already demonstrated; administratively, it has been linked either to this country, or, further back in history, to another European country; and currently, it is treaty-bound in membership of the European Union. Gibraltar's constitutional position within the European Union is defined by article 227(4) of the treaty of Rome--Amsterdam article 299.4, page 227, Cm 3780--which states:

"The provisions of this Treaty shall apply to the European territories for whose external relations a Member State is responsible."

The amendments do not propose that Gibraltar should be a new constituency. Many hon. Members recognise that if that were the proposal, it would be necessary to amend the 1976 EC Act on Direct Elections. The amendments simply propose that Gibraltarians should be added to the electoral rolls in the new London electoral region. Any other region could have been chosen, but it seems to me that, for practical and commonsense reasons, it would be more sensible for Gibraltar to be connected with the City of London. Most people travelling from Gibraltar to this country arrive in London, and most people travelling to Gibraltar start their journeys in London. There is therefore a good argument in favour of linking Gibraltar with London, although I acknowledge what the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) said in that respect.

Following on from other remarks made by the hon. Gentleman, may I draw his attention to the opinion of Michael Llamas, who is an advocate resident in Paris? Mr. Llamas presented an opinion to the European Court in connection with the case of a Gibraltarian who went to the court on the precise issue of whether or not she was being denied her democratic rights by not being allowed to vote in European elections. It was the opinion of Mr. Llamas that:

"The United Kingdom can unilaterally extend the right of franchise to the European Parliament to Gibraltar if such an extension can be put into effect without the need to amend Annex II."