The underlying philosophy in our foreign policy is that the people of Gibraltar have the right to determine their own future and the future of our country.

This is then reflected in the policies that we have adopted in Government and in Opposition.

We totally rejected the Lisbon Agreement in 1980, the Brussels Agreement of 1984 and the Airport Agreement of 1987. We continue to reject these agreements and everything that they represent.

We maintain that Gibraltar must attend the sessions of both the United Nations Committee of 24 and the Fourth Committee that it reports to. It is essential that the voice of Gibraltar is heard, otherwise Spain would have the floor and delegates would only hear one side of the argument.

Gibraltar must be removed from the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The GSLP’s founder, Sir Joe Bossano, when he was Chief Minister, re-established the presence of Gibraltar at the United Nations in the 1990s. The current leader of the GSLP, and Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, has continued that policy.  At the UN Mr Picardo has not minced his words when getting his message across to the Spanish government. Mr Picardo told Spanish foreign minister, Snr Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo to “go smell the coffee, Gibraltar will never be Spanish”. Additionally, Mr Picardo replied a simple “no way Jose” in answer to Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo’s offer of joint sovereignty over Gibraltar after the Brexit referendum of 2016.

There will be a need to reform Gibraltar’s 2006 Constitution with our proposed departure from the European Union.

We do not want to leave the EU. It is in the best interests of Gibraltar and indeed the United Kingdom to remain a part of the club. However, the overall vote in the 2016 referendum was a vote to leave so we must make preparations for our departure.

A former Spanish Foreign Minister once threatened that if we ever wanted a relationship with the European Union, we would need to share sovereignty with Spain as a precondition. We do not believe that this is the choice. But if it were, then we will remain 100% British and outside the European Union.

We believe it is important to lobby and to put across the Gibraltar point of view to as many international organisations as possible. It is important that the position of Gibraltar is heard directly from the elected representatives of the people of Gibraltar.

As a result, Fabian Picardo has established direct personal relationships with all the UK Prime Ministers he has dealt with since 2011.  He has met and discussed Gibraltar with each of David Cameron and Theresa May and Boris Johnson. They have each recorded video messages for National Day and the Gibraltar flag now flies over the Foreign Office headquarters at King Charles Street in London each year on the 10th September.  Mr Picardo has established close personal relationships with British parliamentarians across the political divide and is able to talk directly to all UK party leaders and senior members at short notice on any subject of importance to Gibraltar. Mr Picardo enjoys similar relations through the European socialist family of parties as a result of his work in the Party of European Socialists.