Right to be British Gibraltarian must be protected, says CM in last National Day speech

In his last National Day message, Fabian Picardo said Chief Ministers are temporary, but the red and white people of the Rock are permanent.

The Chief Minister said the right to be a British Gibraltarian was earned in 1704 and 1967.

He said, “Our job – my job, your job, the job of the next Chief Minister and the one after that – is to keep that right intact. To defend that right forever. To protect that right with our lives.”

The Chief Minister read out National Day messages from King Charles and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Mr Picardo thanked Mr Burnham for his reinforcement of the principle “Nothing about Gibraltar without Gibraltar” – adding nobody on the Rock will ever let a British Government forget that.

On the first National Day since the signing and provisional application of the treaty, Mr Picardo said the agreement delivers fluidity at the frontier and legal certainty for the economy, without a single concession on Gibraltar’s exclusively British sovereignty.

Fabian Picardo said next month, he will travel to New York and address the Fourth Committee of the United Nations for the very last time as Chief Minister.

He said Gibraltar must keep making the argument for its removal from the UN List of Non-Self-Governing Territories, every year, until it is finally taken off it.

He said Gibraltar has outlasted sieges, dictators and closed frontiers, and will outlast whatever comes next – adding the Rock of Gibraltar belongs to no-one but its people.