On Wednesday I joined my colleagues on the Northern Ireland Committee in questioning the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, to draw on his experience with a territory that shares a border with the European Union.
One area that I was interested to learn more about was whether he thought that Gibraltar’s cooperation with Spain on issues such as border control and smuggling would be affected by Brexit. Fabian reassured myself and the rest of the committee that it is in Spain’s interest to maintain mutual cooperation in terms of securing the borders of mainland Europe, pointing to Spain’s work with North African nations as an example of how they already work outside the confines of the European Union.
I also questioned the Chief Minister about what international trade and tourism opportunities he saw for Gibraltar once we have left the European Union. The United Kingdom currently makes up 90% of all Gibraltar’s trade but Gibraltar stands to benefit from the opportunity to be able to trade globally.