Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2014-04-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the reasons the government of Spain has given for sending warships and other state vessels into territorial waters around Gibraltar.

Baroness Warsi

Our assessment is that unlawful incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters by Spanish State vessels are a futile attempt to assert Spain’s legal position in respect of the waters. Incursions are a violation of sovereignty, not a threat to it. They do not weaken or undermine the legal basis in international law for British sovereignty over Gibraltar, including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.