496 Spanish State Vessel Incursions into BGTW Last Year

In a recent UK Commons debate on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton Jim Dobbin questioned Europe Minister David Lidington on the number of incursions by Spanish state vessels in BGTW between December 2013 and now. Minister Lidington stated that there had been a total of 496 incursions throughout 2013, with 9 being carried out in December. This year there has been 77 unlawful incursions as of 28^th February. Guardia Civil carried out 53 of these, with two being carried out by the Spanish Navy.

Minister Lidington went on to say that the Government continues to make diplomatic protests to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding these incursions. He added, ‘unlawful incursions do not weaken or undermine the legal basis for British sovereignty over Gibraltar territorial waters.’

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