Spain has called on the UK to return to the negotiating table over the future status of Gibraltar. The country's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Augustin Santos, repeated Spain's position that only negotiations between Madrid and London can find a solution to the island's "colonial" status.
But Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo said Gibraltarians would not stand for being mere bystanders in their own decolonisation. The statements were made at the UN Committee of 24, which reviews the political, economic and social situation in each of the remaining non-self governing territories on the organisation's list.
Gibraltar - which has become a symbol of British naval power and is affectionately nicknamed "the Rock" - differs from other British Overseas Territories in that it was part of the EU before Brexit. Some 95 per cent of the island's voters chose to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum.
