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Brief historical background of Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a small territory of less than 5 square kilometres with 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated at
the southern end of the Iberian Peninsular and is connected to the mainland by a short isthmus. It
has been British since 1704. Over three hundred years of association with Great Britain have imbued
this Mediterranean Territory with a mix of British and Mediterranean culture. Gibraltar institutions
are ones familiar to any British person. The official language is English although most Gibraltarians
are bilingual and also speak Spanish. The education system, the police authority, the health
authority, the judicial system and the parliamentary systems have all been directly inherited from
the UK. All our professionals have studied at British universities and are members of British
chartered institutions. To begin with Gibraltar’s main reason for being was as a British military base,
its population working either directly or indirectly for this purpose. This continued until the early
1980’s when due to several MoD restructures, the economy had to diversify.
Although there is a much reduced military presence, Gibraltar is still of strategic military and political
value to the UK. Today Gibraltar has a diverse services based economy which provides bunkering,
financial services, on-line gaming and tourism products amongst others. The Gibraltar Government,
however, is still the largest single employer in Gibraltar.
Political Background
Gibraltar has developed politically and today enjoys its second Constitution which has given
Gibraltarians full autonomy as to the internal running of the territory. All matters appertaining to
Gibraltar are governed by the local Parliament which is made up of 10 Ministers in Government and
7 members of the opposition. The voting system is set up so that each voter can vote for up to 10
MPs taken from all those who have put their names down for election. The only two matters which
the United Kingdom still has responsibility for are Defence and Foreign Affairs. Gibraltar today is
economically self-sufficient and does not cost the UK tax payer a single penny. Gibraltar employs
around fourteen thousand workers from the adjoining hinterland, the majority being Spanish
nationals.
Spain today still claims Gibraltar for itself irrespective of the wishes of the Gibraltarians. Spain has
laid siege to Gibraltar over the centuries on 17 occasions. All have been unsuccessful.
Gibraltar voted against Brexit with an overwhelming majority of 96%, fearing reprisals from Spain on
exit from the European Union. The main contention is fluid movement of goods and people across
the Gibraltar/Spain border, as long queues have a devastating effect on the economy of both
Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar area. After the triggering of Article 50, Spain’s hostile stance
towards Gibraltar is evidenced by clause 24 of the EU guidelines for Brexit, whereby no agreement
between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to Gibraltar without agreement between Spain
and the United Kingdom.
In this political climate, we can only assume that there will be many challenges ahead for trade
unions in Gibraltar. Having said that, on the 27
th
June 2017, the Chief Minister announced a budget
surplus of £75.8 million and the GDP forecast for this financial year is £1.91 billion – a year-on-year