Contribution
I thank both noble Lords for their comments and questions. I have to say that the noble Lord opposite is slightly spikier in his approach to this than his friend in the other place, the shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel, who gave it a rather warmer tone of welcome than he did—but he is here to speak for the Opposition on those Benches.
I thank the noble Lord for reminding us of the importance of the sovereignty of Gibraltar, our long history and military ties to it and our base there. This deal achieves something that matters hugely to the Government and people of Gibraltar: the open border. There are 15,000 people crossing the border each day to go to work and to go about their lives. The delays and the problems that can occur, particularly as the EU looks towards implementing its entry and exit processes in a matter of months, make life very difficult for Gibraltarians, so it was important that we were able to reach a pragmatic agreement with the EU to enable daily life to continue.
As both noble Lords said, there needs to be proper oversight and scrutiny. There will be an opportunity for that to happen in both Houses under the CRaG process, which we are all now familiar with. We are aware of the debates around the strengths and flaws of this process, but we are legally obliged to follow it. Unless and until that changes, that is the process we will use.
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar has been incredibly forthcoming with his views on this and is happy with the outcome of the negotiations. There have been 19 rounds of negotiations to achieve this agreement. I think they started when Dominic Raab was Foreign Secretary and continued under James Cleverly and the noble Lord, Lord Cameron. They have now concluded. The Foreign Secretary has been very clear in paying tribute to the work of his predecessors in leading these negotiations. Given how complex this is, it has been a relatively smooth process. I also pay tribute to my friend Stephen Doughty, the Minister for Europe, for the role he has played in bringing this about.
On the role of the Spanish police, they will be doing Schengen checks. If noble Lords have been through St Pancras, they will have seen the double-layered checks. Those are to make sure that there is a check before someone enters the Schengen area. If an alert is triggered by that Schengen check, you will not be instantly lifted by Spanish police and taken to Malaga for interrogation; you will maintain your rights and have access to legal advice, as well as the option of returning to your departure airport if that is what you want to do.
I thank the noble Lord for raising the question on service personnel. I am happy to make clear that service personnel at the base are not going to need Schengen checks. This is about pragmatism; there is always a balance to be struck and trade-offs to be made in these circumstances, but the Chief Minister and the Government of Gibraltar, who will also have their own parliamentary process to look at this, are content that this is the right way to proceed. My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary is also meeting with members of the Gibraltarian opposition, to make sure that everybody is comfortable and that we can proceed.
The noble Lord asked how long this arrangement is intended to last. This does not have an end date. We want this to be the new normal, and for there to be certainty and clarity for the people of Gibraltar. Having an end date would not be conducive to that.
The contents of this agreement do not impact the sovereignty of Gibraltar in any way, and there is a clause that says that this agreement does not affect its sovereignty at all. As the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, pointed out, Spain has its view, but we are clear that Gibraltar is British. There is nothing in this agreement that affects the current status of Gibraltar, and Spain has agreed to that.
We have had no talks without the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, and I do not think the previous Government did either. It is clearly not tenable to have arrived at a position where we have an agreement between the UK and the EU that did not satisfy the leadership and people of Gibraltar, so we have made sure that that has been at the forefront of our work at all times.
I echo the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, on sovereignty, self-determination and our unshakable commitment to the people of Gibraltar. He asked about dispute mechanisms and exit clauses. Yes, they will be included, and, as you would expect, the full text will be available. Should things deteriorate or something happen that we do not foresee—although I emphasise that we do not foresee this happening, because it is in the interests of all four parties of this agreement for this to work—there are clauses that make it possible for us to walk away unilaterally if the view is that that is in the best interests of the people of Gibraltar. But, as I say, we do not anticipate that being the case.
This is a good outcome for the people of Gibraltar, and they are pleased with it. We now have our process to go through; the Gibraltar Government have their process to go through too, and the full text will be made available. Generally, this has been a reasonably well-received outcome—including by the Opposition Benches in the other place—to a long and protracted set of negotiations that were in many ways inevitable following the vote to leave the European Union. For the sake of the people of Gibraltar, I am glad that we have almost resolved this.