Why are the Labour leadership not speaking out on Gibraltar?

In recent weeks, the Spanish Government has been causing trouble for tens of thousands of British people. I am not talking about those sunning themselves on Spanish beaches or lapping up the atmosphere at the Nou Camp.

I am, of course, talking about the people of Gibraltar.

The Spanish government has sought to make life difficult for the Gibraltarians by increasing delays at the border and ratcheting up the rhetoric around the sovereignty of the islands. And despite interventions from the government – a phone call from Cameron to his Spanish counterpart was briefed out last week (in which the PM expressed “serious concerns”) – the drama on the rock continues.

But where have Labour been on the Gibraltar row? Peter Hain appeared to stray from the party line when he argued that sovereignty of the territory should be shared with Spain, and Chris Bryant mentioned the problems at the border fleetingly in his speech on immigration yesterday. But there does not seem to have been much in the way of condemnation from any senior Labour figure. (See update)

So why are Labour so quiet on the Gibraltar issue? If we believe in “One Nation”, and the party agrees that Gibraltar should remain part of the British nation (I’ve seen no evidence to the contrary) then why not stand up for it against Spanish aggression? Surely Labour’s position in Gibraltar, The Falklands, Northern Ireland and – yes – Scotland, is that it is the right of the people to decide whether they will remain in the union or not. And it is clearly and overwhelmingly the settled view of the Gibraltans that they want to stay British.

Perhaps the reason that the party has been so quiet on this issue is that it is a matter that could only be dealt with by the leader, and Ed Miliband has been on holiday (which almost makes me long for Gordon Brown’s “working holidays” that seemed to be invariably all work and no holiday). If so, it’s a shame that no other senior figures felt they could stand up for the people on the rock. Because for Labour, standing up for the Gibraltarians was an opportunity to do the right thing (protecting self determination of our citizens) whilst at the same time standing up for the national interest – and winning some August media coverage into the bargain.

Rather than flying home from France at the weekend, Ed Miliband should have been heading to the Spanish/Gibraltarian border, handing out bottles of water to those sweltering in the heat in queues and making a fuss about why this whole mess hasn’t been sorted out.

And he might have gained some positive media coverage from some unlikely sources into the bargain too…

Update: Never let it be said that I don’t put my hands up when I’m wrong. I’ve been sent a press release that Douglas Alexander distributed, saying:

“British holiday makers and Gibraltar residents trying to cross the border between Spain and Gibraltar deserve better than long delays and the threat of transit fees. When he gets back to Downing Street today David Cameron needs to get a grip of the situation. He now needs to make clear to his Spanish counterpart that any measure designed to unfairly penalise the residents of Gibraltar would be resisted by the British Government.”

Meanwhile Shadow Foreign Office Minister Kerry McCarthy was also quoted (including here and here) on Gibraltar.

SO the Labour Party has been speaking out on Gibraltar. However, it does still concern me that despite this, Labour’s voice in the Gibraltar row doesn’t seem to be cutting through – Labour bloggers aren’t even hearing the message…