Straw: We will share Rock with Spain

Jack Straw sparked a new row over the future of Gibraltar today by publicly admitting for the first time that Britain was ready to share sovereignty of the colony with Spain.

In a surprise statement to MPs, the Foreign Secretary said the two nations were in "broad agreement" on many of the principles that would underpin a "lasting settlement".

To loud Tory protests, Mr Straw claimed the trouble-hit talks with Spain over Gibraltar, which have gone on for more than a year, were damaging moves by London and Madrid to forge a new alliance within the European-Union. He said the dispute "needs to be solved for good".

But he admitted that the negotiations were still far from being fully resolved and that the target of reaching a broad agreement before the summer was being abandoned with no new date set.

He also said Britain would not give way to a series of Spanish demands - including that shared sovereignty should be a stepping stone to full Spanish control of the Rock.

Furthermore, Mr Straw said there was no way Britain would agree to any interference from Spain in its military base on Gibraltar.

He also reaffirmed the line that any agreement on joint sovereignty would have to be put to Gibraltar's inhabitants in a referendum - a vote which would almost certainly see proposals rejected.

But it was Mr Straw's first open admission that joint sovereignty was high on Britain's agenda that sparked the loudest Conservative objections - certain to be taken up by the colony's administration. Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram branded the statement a "disgrace" and accused Mr Straw of cooking up a "shabby and dishonourable process."

Mr Ancram, who said that Mr Straw's statement continued the Government's "hectoring" tone towards the people of Gibraltar, added: "Sovereignty shared is sovereignty surrendered."

Mr Ancram said this was a "humiliating episode" in which Mr Straw had upset the Spaniards, infuriated the people of Gibraltar, brought shame on himself and his Government with nothing to show for it. The process was "doomed".

The excuse for effectively "parking" the talks over the summer was the abrupt departure of Spain's foreign minister Josep Pique and his replacement by Ana de Palacio. Mr Straw had been meant to be meeting his opposite number today.

However, Ms Palacio is on record as saying she only needed a "few days" to read herself into the subject before she was ready to re-open talks.

Mr Straw told MPs: "In 12 months of negotiations we are now closer than ever to overcoming 300 years of fraught history. A better future for Gibraltar - more stable, secure and prosperous - is too important to let slip.

The principles which would underpin a joint sovereignty deal, Mr Straw said, included more internal self-government for the colony, Gibraltar to return its "British traditions customs and way of life," and the continuing right to British nationality for the Rock's inhabitants.