John Culatto
SENIOR Conservative MPs will learn more about Gibraltar’s key issues in its reception at the party’s annual conference in Manchester that will take place from October 1-4.
Caretaker Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia will host the traditional Gibraltar reception at the conference, which often frequented by the current UK cabinet.
The out-of-favour Tories have made the biggest assurances of Gibraltar’s self-determination with their double lock guarantee.
The party hopes to rally before the next UK election on May 2 with polling placing them about 20 points behind rivals Labour.
Garcia will only visit the Conservative party conference this year as GSLP/Liberal candidates intensify their campaigns for the October 12 election.
The Labour party conference will take place in Liverpool on October 8-11, just days before voters go to polls on the Rock.
The party in pole position to take office next year confirmed it would support Gibraltar right to self-determination.
But the government said in a statement it ‘will have a presence at each party conference with a Gibraltar stand’.
Gibraltar government’s London office staff will inform MPs and attendees at the stands, the statement added.
Close contact with UK ministers since the departure from the EU has ensured Gibraltar gets the special treatment it needs for ongoing talks over a future EU treaty.
The Rock’s election has even delayed the United Nations’ Fourth Committee hearing on the decolonisation of the British territory.
It’s chairperson agreed to postpone the customary speech given by Gibraltar until after the general election rather than next week.
Earlier this week, Caretaker Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said Gibraltar will try to work out a new updated constitution so the UN could remove it from its list of territories to be decolonised.
Meetings could start soon after the election, the coalition said.
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