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SPANISH BULLYING SOLVES NOTHING
By Ashley Fox, MEP
Under the pretext of tackling tobacco smuggling, residents and commuters were forced to wait for up to six hours to cross the border. It is true that there is a problem with tobacco smuggling, but it is only by working with the Gibraltarian authorities that the Spanish will ever be able to resolve the problem. There is no evidence of a sudden increase in smuggling that might have justified this action. The actions of the Guardia Civil are obviously endorsed by those higher up the chain of command. They have been carried out in response to the commitment by the British Government to refuse to enter into talks about the future sovereignty of Gibraltar without representatives of the Gibraltarian Government present. It is also a fine example of trying to focus public attention onto a 'foreign problem' and away from the wreckage of their economy. These tactics are short sighted. It will only serve to ratchet tensions still higher whilst at the same time hurting the local Spanish economy. Every day thousands of Spaniards cross the border to work in Gibraltar, earn money and then travel back into Spain to spend it. If the Spanish authorities make this harder for their own citizens then they will only harm themselves. In my view the Spanish action contravenes EU law and I have submitted a written question to the European Commission calling on them to investigate these border delays. Gibraltar will remain British as long as its citizens want it to. The Spanish Government needs to accept this. Current Spanish attitudes solve nothing. Spain should be working with Gibraltar to promote cross border trade and investment, tackling smuggling and reducing local pollution levels.
CONSERVATIVE CONFERENCE NEWS
The previous day conference heard the man many consider an
alternative, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. He gave a lively
talk but emphasised his mayoral role, and congratulated the Prime
Minister who was conspicuously present in the middle of the
audience.
Cameron has problems.
Because of the failure to achieve a parliamentary majority, he has
had to adopt a more centre position than makes the right wing of the
party comfortable. He maintains continued support for gay marriage,
despite a well organised lobby, by mainly Christian groups.
However, he stresses that despite the attempts to paint the party as
only for the privileged, and depict it in the manner of cartoon
Conservatives who don't care, that the party is for everyone: North
or South, black or white, straight or gay. He affirmed that
“Conservative methods are not just good for the strong and the
successful but the best way to help the poor, and the weak, and the
vulnerable.” A one liner, almost unnoticed by the audience, but was
picked up by the media was his claim: “I'm not here to defend
privilege, I'm here to spread it.”
Government faces enormous problems in getting Britain working again,
the Conservative solution is to cut costs, reduce the size of the
public sector, and to make Britain the best place in the world to
start a business, grow a business and help that business take on the
world. He praised Britain as a home of innovation and ideas.
In preceding days, William Hague the Foreign Secretary had spoken
about redefining Britain’s place in the world and how his view of
things involved looking at emerging markets. Labour had closed the
Foreign Office language school and destroyed its historic library as
they lacked any appreciation of its value. Promoting Britain abroad
is, he said, vital for long term prosperity and a healthy economy.
In the short term George Osborne reported that the deficit is down
by a quarter, there are one million more private sector jobs. The
economy is healing, but it is taking longer than hoped, because the
damage was greater than feared.
One of the strengths of David Cameron’s leadership is that he has
such a strong team who are focused on their individual areas of
competence, and are not looking to replace him in the way previous
ministers did under Labour. Boris Johnson is seen as a great solo
act, and right for London - but leading the country is a team game,
one which Cameron seems to have mastered.
Both parties claimed responsibility for the success of the Olympics,
and indeed it was something that all Britain came together to make
work. Its undoubted success has been good for everyone. Currently
the government is mid-term. Whatever goodies and sweeteners and
will come out to woo the voters in 2015 are only talked about
quietly in closed rooms. Its a time when the excuse that bad things
are all the fault of the last lot, is past its ‘best by’ date and
was only applied sparingly.
But the overall message is clear, the Conservatives are in
government, things are changing for the better and David Cameron
will be seeking another term of office. One which the party does not
want shared with the Libdems, and Vince Cable in particular.
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The heavy handed response by the Spanish Guardia
Civil at the Gibraltar-Spain border last month will have
done absolutely nothing to alleviate mounting
tensions.
The Conservative conference in Birmingham ended with an address by
the party leader, David Cameron. He has the advantage of speaking
last and this year the longest. The question many conservatives
asking themselves was: “is the leader still the right man for the
job”.