HC Deb 20 June 1967 vol 748 cc225-6W
Mr. Kenneth Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs whether he will give details of the electoral roll on which the coming referendum in Gibraltar will be based including the percentage of the total population of the age of 21 years living in Gibraltar which will have the opportunity of participating.

Mrs. Hart

Details of the qualifications of voters and other matters will be contained in the forthcoming Order in Council to which I referred in answering supplementary Questions after announcing the referendum on 14th June—[Vol. 748, c. 570].

Sir F. Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs whether he will give an assurance that a majority vote by the Gibraltarians at the coming referendum to retain their link with Great Britain will preclude further talks thereafter with Spain on the Rock's political future.

Mrs. Hart

Whether or not there may arise any occasion for future talks with Spain on the subject of Gibraltar will be determined by the interests of the people of Gibraltar. We have already made it abundantly clear that, as Britain's Permanent Representative said in the United Nations General Assembly, Britain can never agree that decolonisation would mean the incorporation of Gibraltar into Spain against the wishes of its people.