Foreign Office and the UK Government and Governor must be held accountable for lack of action on Standing up to the bully that Spain is!

Foreign Office and the UK Government and Governor must be held accountable for lack of action on Standing up to the bully that Spain is!

Once again we just hear words and many of them and as such nothing is changing.
It is with utter disgust and disappointment that all can see the lack of action on defending our rights as a people and a country!

Are we going to continue to accept being treated like 3rd class citizens by our UK Government - FCO and our Governor?

Are we just going to continue to sit idly by while the European Union also treat us as third class citizens?

While we all sit and wait for diplomacy we are losing our fight to be heard and have our choices!

It is not right that UK, FCO and our Govenor succumb to bowing to Spain all the time - we are fed up at not being treated or valued as British Citizens!

We keep stating that even though we may not have oil or petrol we deserve the same protection and respect that the Falklanders get from UK and the FCO!

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Today's Panorama shares our sentiments! http://www.panorama.gi/

Time for action - not words or visits Talking Point
The time has come for action - and not words or visits to try and cover up inaction.
MPs in London have it clear in their minds that the Foreign Office, and by extension the UK government, are not doing enough to help Gibraltar, instead they offer words and more words, which may be nice to hear, but solve nothing. And of late there is the suggestion that a visit to Gibraltar might be required to do the trick, as some MPs have noted.
But who wants more words, who wants a visit?
Anyone who has the temerity of suggesting to the Foreign Office that there is a need for action gets the response: What action? Send a gunboat?
Even if you forget the gunboat, there is a clear need to beef up the diplomatic front. Time and again, officials seem to fall asleep when Gibraltar is being discussed, with the result that decisions are taken which work against the Gibraltar interest.
What kind of help is that? And some will ask if the officials were asleep or pretending that they were, to avoid any Gibraltar storm upsetting their own personal relations.
Our readers will have noted how the Foreign Office has been getting stick on different issues from the environmental audit committee of the House of Commons, following the comprehensive reports we have been publishing.
But even on the diplomatic front there is a case for the UK to be more aggressive and more on top of Gibraltar issues, but as MPs have realised, and said, the UK is failing to protect Gibraltar, failing to look after Gibraltar’s interests.
Instead we have Foreign Office mandarins giving preference to not upsetting the Madrid government, as if they have not yet understood that the said government can get upset even with our doing nothing to upset anyone!
Come one, don’t treat the people of Gibraltar as if they were idiots. The Foreign Office in particular must honour their obligations to defend the British people of Gibraltar.
How foreign can those mandarins get?
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 Even the Foreign Affairs Committee share our sentiments! as reported in the panorama.gi today

“Time to toughen things up with Spain” - says Foreign
Affairs Committee by Leo Olivero
The FCO who have spent the best part of a year doing their diplomatic best to get the Spanish Government round the ad hoc table but to no avail. They are not giving up on Spain and still insist on their seemingly one-strategy approach in handling the Gibraltar situation.
In a week where the Foreign Office and UK Government have been strongly criticised by the Commons Environment Audit Committee for letting Gibraltar down, more news comes from Westminster from another distinguished Committee, this time the Foreign Affairs Committee who were very recently informed during another parliamentary inquiry that ad hoc talks are ‘ a key part of the FCO’s diplomatic [Gibraltar] strategy’.
This is what Mark Simmonds, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told the Foreign Affairs Committee during oral evidence.
ESCALATION
Mr Simmonds was answering questions from Committee member Andrew Rosindell who told him that on many occasions in the past year the British Government had expressed the wish to calm tensions over Gibraltar or calm things down. But in fact there had been an escalation of difficulties over the past year. Reviewing what has happened, Mr Rosindell added, “Has the policy of calming tensions failed and is it not time we toughened things up a little”?
Mr Simmonds told the committee that the time-consuming delays at the border and incursions into British Gibraltar territorial waters were unacceptable and that the UK Government had made representations to their Spanish counterparts at an extremely senior level on both those fronts. He reiterated the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Europe had all spoken to their Spanish counterparts, particularly throughout the summer, regarding those important issues. Simmonds also acknowledged that challenges would continue ahead, but added that the firm stance the FCO took, and the lobbying that occurred at a very high political level over the summer have gone some way to expressing the UK’s very serious displeasure at the Spanish behaviour.
The Committee then asked Mr Simmonds what was the Government’s strategy for getting the trilateral talks back on track? Particularly if the Spanish Government are not prepared to continue with that sensible way forward, probing the FCO senior official further he asked what will the British Government do to give a clear and unambiguous demonstration to Madrid that the UK are not prepared to continue down the route of allowing them effectively to bully Gibraltar while they are not even willing to sit down with the people of Gibraltar with elected officials from the Rock to discuss the issues that concern them?
a:Simmonds replied that the Spanish Government unilaterally withdrew from those [trilateral] talks and that the UK Government agreed in April last [nearly 12 months ago] with the Government of Gibraltar and the Spanish Government that they would put in place ad hoc talks with the agreement of Madrid – Simmonds adding, that everyone was waiting on specific dates from the Spanish Government as to when these ad hoc talks might take place, and that London continues to lobby and push for them [the ad hoc talks] to take place as a key part of their diplomatic strategy.
How Bad do Things Have to Get ?
Mr Simmonds said: “I need to say you will have heard the Minister for Europe and me say this in the main (Commons) Chamber, is that we do not think that an escalation of the dispute is a constructive way forward, whether that be sending additional Navy ships or whatever it may be. As this is a political dispute and the actions - delays at the border or incursions into territorial waters are clearly political, there has to be a political solution. There is absolutely no question but that we believe this is a threat to the sovereignty of Gibraltar. As you will know, Her Majesty’s Government stand shoulder to shoulder, four-square with the people of Gibraltar in their desire to remain British, and we will do everything in our power to make sure that that remains the case. That includes a diplomatic and political strategy to resolve the current problems”.
This generated another comment from Mr Rosindell who said “But Minister, the Minister of State said in the Chamber in answer to a question from me two weeks ago that the time was not right to send the Spanish ambassador back to Madrid. He said, quite bluntly, “No.” At what stage do you feel that it would be appropriate? How bad do things need to get before we make a categorical diplomatic statement about the treatment of the people of Gibraltar by Spain”?
Foreign affairs committee member Mr John Baron (conservative MP) acknowledged the point made by Simmonds about their having to be a political and diplomatic solution, but, pointed out the very unusual situation where one EU member is basically making a territorial claim on another and asked Mr Simmonds if he was satisfied that all available options had been explored within the EU structures to make the UK’S case known and for an appropriate decision to be pursued? And that even though the EU Commission had visited the frontier, he said, “we got a pretty wishy-washy answer from them”.
Simmonds then made a shallow remark which really summed up and confirmed for me the mentality behind the FCO’s failed diplomacy over Gibraltar when he said “this pressure on Gibraltar is perhaps a domestic distraction while the Spanish economy has significant problems. If the media are to be believed, the economy in Spain is starting to get better, to mend and to grow again. Hopefully, that [the economy] will assuage) some of the pressures that have been put on Gibraltar”.
This latter comment from a very senior FCO official was a shallow response to say the least, because not only it seems is the FCO waiting for the Spanish Government to decide when they are in the mood to sit and talk in an ad hoc, or any other kind of forum suitable to them and their policies. Because now it seems the FCO has intelligently worked out that because the Spanish economy is improving this could improve things for Gibraltar!
From which planet have people like Mark Simmonds at the FCO been handling the Gibraltar issue? How can the Foreign Office even think about associating any improvement or progress regarding Gibraltar’s historical problem with Spain, based on the economy of the Government in Madrid. No wonder Gibraltar has not made any headway, if anything matters are far worse than before. WITH THAT MENTALITY!
HI-JACKING PARTS OF GIBRALTAR WATERS
All this comes after two weeks where we it came to light that the FCO had watched whilst Spain hi-jacked parts of BGTW to build a multi-million euro marina complex, later attempting to unsuccessfully wriggle themselves out of their ineffective defence of British sovereignty, by saying that the existence of the Spanish Mole and marina is an historic fact!
What historic fact is the FCO talking about is best known to them. Because if it is an historical fact, how is it that the Royal Navy has the so called Spanish historical mole and the not so historical new marina clearly within BGTW and installed in modern tactical mapping equipment on board their vessels. And why hasn’t the FCO or the British Government ever brought this so called historical issue up in any of the many statements made when the tension regarding the waters was red hot and when the Spanish Government were making all kinds of demands regarding BGTW. Was not this an opportune time for the FCO to have told the Spaniards they had already nicked and built a massive complex in BGTW and to shut the xxxx-up! It’s all rubbish and a total insult to people’s intelligence!
Luckily criticism of the FCO’s performance also comes from British MPs as well. The other Commons audit committee which Panorama this week has published extensive reports on its findings said that the FCO has continued to ignore and fail Gibraltar in order to appease the Spanish government which is a point that other UK MPs also share.
The perception of the latter committee was that the relationship between the UK and Gibraltar is very much biased in favour of Spain with everything being done not to upset the Spanish government at the expense of Gibraltar’s interests!
The FCO still have a lot to answer for. I for one will not let them forget. As it is sad that not only do we constantly have to look over our shoulders to see what Spain and the EU are up too, but also our so called friends and allies in London!
23-01-14 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
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We the Defenders of Gibraltar will continue to highlight the bullying tactics by Spain and the lack of action by UK Government, FCO, Our Governor and even the EU and we will do this worldwide!


We know the treatment we are getting is undeserved and basically unwarranted and just like Spain has to answer for their bullying our UK Government, FCO and Governor have to answer for their lack of action and they are accountable for any incidents that occur due to their appeasement!


Below are recent photos fo the Border Queues just 2 days ago - do not believe the lies the bullyig - the oppressing of our people and lack of freedom of movement is very true and still happening as too are the incursions in our British Gibraltar Territorial Waters!

Photos by Trevor Bickerstaff 21/01/2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is how they slow the queues down!
 

Notice no Green lane
 

The hero of the day 21/01
 
This School Girl Says It All.....
Todays Queues at the frontier Made a little School Girl, Tired of waiting in the queues stepped into action, If only the Guardia Civil could direct traffic like she can.....

Even She would know that the queues are inhumane..... Lets be like her and do something about it by Signing the Petition online or at the Piazza tomorrow until Saturday from 10:00 am until 2 Pm
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/spanish-government-undermining-our-right-to-freedom-of-movement.html

Do not be deceived all continues just as bad! The truth needs to be heard!