HL Deb 18 January 1982 vol 426 c413

2.49 p.m.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Spanish Government have yet withdrawn their obstruction of access to Gibraltar by land and sea and their interference with access to Gibraltar airport.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Lord Carrington)

My Lords, it was agreed during the visit to London by the Spanish Prime Minister that direct communications between Gibraltar and Spain will be re-established on 20th April.

We have been assured by the Spanish Government that early practical steps will be taken in the interests of air safety to adjust the application of the Spanish prohibited airspace in such a way as not to impede the safe and effective use of Gibralter airport.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, while warmly congratulating Her Majesty's Government on the subject matter of that Answer, and my noble friend in particular in view of the well-known efforts he has made in this direction, may I ask him why the re-opening of the border, originally promised to him in April 1980, is deferred until April and not effected immediately?

Lord Carrington

My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend for his congratulations but, as he has pointed out in his supplementary, we are now back to where we were two years ago. Still, that is better than being further back than we were two years ago, and so I think we ought to be grateful for that. To reply to the noble Lord's question, I think the answer is that it has been difficult in terms of domestic Spanish politics.