Why our national day matters.
Updated: Sep 9
Every year on the 10th of September, Gibraltar holds its national day celebrations. A reminder of our self-governance and the 1967 referendum result.
The 1967 referendum was an overwhelming result towards British sovereignty, when over 99.6% voted to remain a British overseas territory, with a grand total of 44 votes in favour of a transfer to Spanish sovereignty.
Our first national day celebration was in1992; on the 25th anniversary of the referendum, they have been held yearly since.
The referendum wasn't all sunshine and roses, though; In 1969, the Spanish government closed the border between Spain and Gibraltar, cutting off all contacts and severely restricting movement as a result of their anger at Gibraltar's status. The border was not fully reopened until February 1985.
The United Nations has also continued to criticise Gibraltar and its people; the Special Committee on Decolonisation was informed in advance of the 1967 referendum and invited to observe. They chose to decline, and instead the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2353, which requested that the United Kingdom enter negotiations with Spain (then under the dictatorship of General Franco) and criticised the United Kingdom for holding a referendum.
This resolution is still the UN's unmoved position to date, despite almost yearly visits from locals and politicians to the committee. They refuse outright to do anything until the UK negotiates to hand sovereignty to Spain, or Spain drop their claim.
The 1967 referendum is not Gibraltar's only referendum on sovereignty. In July 2001, Jack Straw, the then British Foreign Secretary, began negotiations with Spain in secret regarding shared sovereignty of Gibraltar, though it was unclear if the people would get a say.
The Government of Gibraltar strongly opposed this announcement, and felt they were being undermined in entirety. Their response was the announcement of the 2002 referendum on the proposal of shared sovereignty. Pre-empting any plans for a referendum to be held only after the negotiations between Britain and Spain had concluded. Jack Straw described the Gibraltar referendum as "eccentric", and Britain's Foreign Office announced it would not recognise the results. Though this may have just been because it was one of Spain's conditions for any agreement.
This referendum and the subsequent riots were perhaps our greatest public opposition to the UK government, and resulted in an unsurprising backlash against Jack Straw from the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which noted that it was wrong to even attempt such an agreement, with a 98.9% rejection.
Under an initiative originally started in 1999, the Government of Gibraltar, together with opposition parties, negotiated a new constitution for Gibraltar. The key issue was that of the right of self-determination, an issue that the UK government had attempted to resist at every opportunity. The 2002 referendum further emphasised the need for such a clause, though it wasn't until 2006, when Margaret Beckett succeeded Straw as Foreign Secretary, that there was a shift in British policy that finally recognised it as necessary and granted the 2006 constitutional reform referendum, which also passed with a majority and cross-party support. Most opposition to the amendments was due to a desire for stronger British commitments and powers.
It is for that reason that during the EU-UK agreement on Gibraltar, Gibraltar Government representatives were involved in the process for the first time.
