§ Mr. LaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the report by the International Monetary Fund on 19 March. [48309]
§ Peter HainWe welcome the report, which recognises progress that Gibraltar has made in the regulation and supervision of its developing financial services industry.
§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the legal basis of his claim that the integration of Gibraltar into the UK would contravene the Treaty of Utrecht. [47565]
§ Peter HainI did not say that the integration of Gibraltar into the UK would contravene the Treaty of Utrecht. I said that it was not this Government's policy to integrate Gibraltar. I reminded the Committee that the Treaty of Utrecht gave Spain first refusal in the event that Britain ever relinquished sovereignty over Gibraltar; and that the position of Gibraltar was therefore different from that of Ceuta and Melilla.