THE UK Government must deliver on a special EU deal for Scotland after border controls ceased between Remain-voting Gibraltar and Spain, an SNP minister has said.
As of this week, people in Spain and the British territory will no longer have to cross a physical border between the nations due to a treaty was signed by the EU and the UK.
The agreement signed in Brussels is aimed at delivering “economic and trade certainty for the people and businesses of Gibraltar, safeguards British sovereignty and protects the autonomous operation of UK military facilities”.
It also allows residents of Gibraltar to cross into Spain using residence cards without needing to have their passports stamped. Spanish citizens will be allowed to enter Gibraltar using a government ID card.
“Gibraltar was left out of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement following Brexit, creating the prospect of a devastating ‘hard border’ for the 15,000 people – more than half of Gibraltar’s workforce – who cross the land border between Spain and Gibraltar every day,” the treaty said.
In effect, it brings Gibraltar into the EU’s Schengen free-travel area, which allows people from 29 countries to move among them freely without needing visas.
Stephen Gethins, Scotland's Minister for Europe, told The National the UK Government must now give Scotland a special deal which recognises that it voted Remain like Gibraltar and Northern Ireland – which is benefitting from a unique arrangement known as the Windsor Framework.
Gethins said: “It is now a decade since the disastrous decision to leave the EU. Brexit is costing taxpayers tens of billions of pounds a year, has left us poorer and with fewer rights. Even the staunchest supporters of Brexit no longer seem to have the heart to defend it.
“The Gibraltar deal is a welcome unpicking of a very small part of that damage. However, whilst special deals have been made for Gibraltar and Northern Ireland, both of which voted to remain in the EU, nothing has been done for Scotland, which also voted to remain.
“I would urge the incoming UK administration to urgently redress this given the damage that has been done to businesses, organisations and citizens across Scotland.”
Without a deal, Gibraltar could have a faced a hard land border with full passport checks, posing economic risks for the territory.
The deal also brings claims an independent Scotland in the EU would have to have a hard border with the rest of the UK into question.
A whopping 96% of voters in Gibraltar voted to remain in the EU in 2016.
The contested British Overseas Territory of 38,000 people is perched at the southern end of the Iberian peninsula, a few miles from Morocco where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Gibraltar is now in a unique position because it has gained EU privileges without being an actual EU member.
At Gibraltar’s airport and port, entry and exit checks will be conducted by UK and Spanish border officials, similar to what is in place at Eurostar train stations in London and Paris.
