Row between UK and Spain is a hint of how difficult Brexit will be

British PM promises talks, not war, over the Rock of Gibraltar post-Brexit.

Gibraltar - pictured on April 3, 2017 - has been British for 300 years but tensions between Britain and Spain have risen over its status after the UK leaves the European Union. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty ImagesShow less

British prime minister Theresa May has soothed diplomatic tempers by affirming that her country has no intention of fighting with Spain over the territory of Gibraltar, just days after politicians in London hinted at the prospect of outright war.

Quoting Winston Churchill, Mrs May said it was “better to jaw-jaw than war-war.” Her office also confimed she had spoken to Fabien Picard, chief minister of Gibraltar, to assure him that the territory’s status is not up for renegotiation.

The row between Britain and Spain over the post-Brexit status of Gibraltar, a British territory attached to mainland Spain, offers a glimpse of the potentially turbulent negotiations facing Britain now it has begun its formal separation from the European Union.

“I would say on Gibraltar, you see now how difficult the divorce is,” said Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders, speaking before a meeting of the EU foreign affairs council.

Gibraltar – commonly called simply “The Rock” – is a tiny, rocky enclave, hanging off Spain’s southern coast at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea and is home to 32,000 people. It has been administered by the UK ever since 1704, and a treaty in 1713 ceded Gibraltar to the UK “in perpetuity.”

Since Gibraltar is part of mainland Europe, the European Union has demanded, as a part of its Brexit negotiating strategy, that Spain be granted a special veto power concerning the territory.

The EU’s draft of its position for talks, released on Friday and due to be approved by member states on April 29, states: “After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.”

Spain, which has persistently claimed sovereignty over Gibraltar, says the EU’s clause is reasonable. “It’s what we wanted and what we have said from the beginning,” said a Spanish government spokesperson.

But in London, the response was angry. Michael Fallon, the UK’s defence secretary, said on Monday that his country was prepared to go “all the way” to retain Gibraltar.

Michael Howard, a former Tory leader and now a member of the House of Lords, said that the tussle over Gibraltar evoked the UK’s war with Argentina in the South Atlantic over the Falkland Islands in 1982.

In Gibraltar itself, attitudes are mixed. In a 2002 referendum, 99 per cent of the populace voted against the idea of Britain and Spain sharing sovereignty over the territory. But in the Brexit referendum last year, 96 per cent of people living in Gibraltar voted to remain with the EU, and its parliament has indicated that it would like to negotiate “a special status” with the EU after the UK leaves.