Britain has abandoned negotiations with Spain on sharing the sovereignty of Gibraltar. A Government minister told Spanish newspapers yesterday that the prospect of a deal was "simply zero".
Denis MacShane, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Europe, admitted failure after nearly two years of talks and acknowledged that London could not impose a deal against the almost unanimous opposition of Gibraltar's population.
The news is a resounding victory for Peter Caruana, Gibraltar's chief minister, who led a campaign of opposition to any dilution of British sovereignty.
Two weeks ago, Jose Maria Aznar, the Spanish prime minister, sent a letter to Tony Blair asking him to resume talks on the 300-year-old colony. Last week Ana Palacio, the Spanish foreign minister, predicted that an agreement on joint sovereignty would be signed within a year.
But in a series of interviews with Spanish newspapers, Mr MacShane predicted that it would take another generation to find agreement.
"We no longer live in the 18th or 19th century where diplomats could sign treaties and people had to obey them," he said. "For both the citizens and the British Parliament the possibility of achieving an agreement that would be accepted by the Gibraltarians is simply zero."
Mr MacShane said it would be "very dangerous" for democracy after the deal was overwhelmingly rejected by Gibraltarians in a referendum last November. "Madrid and London have much more important matters to deal with," he said.
Although officially neither country recognised the legitimacy of the referendum organised by Mr Caruana, officials on both sides acknowledged the resounding rejection had killed the talks.
Ignoring Spanish diplomatic sensibilities, Mr MacShane compared Gibraltar to Spain's North African colonies of Cueta and Melilla, claimed by Morocco. While Mr Aznar's Popular Party played down the renewed rift as "nothing new", the opposition socialist party reacted furiously, saying Mr MacShane's remarks were "offensive and dangerous".
Underlining one of the British "red lines", Mr MacShane said British objections to sharing sovereignty of the Rock's military installations were "unmovable".
"I believe that if Europe wants to be a superpower it is important that France and Britain maintain their military bases in different parts of the world, including Gibraltar."
Michael Ancram, the Tory foreign affairs spokesman, said: "At last it seems they have seen the light."
