Spanish vessels entered British Gibraltar’s territorial waters 1,200 times in three years, figures show

Transits are a ‘violation of sovereignty, not a threat to it’, Foreign Office says

Their presence was ‘incompatible with the meaning of innocent passage as defined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea’, said the UK’s Foreign Office (PA)

Spanish vessels breached United Nations (UN) rules by sailing into British Gibraltar territorial waters more than 1,200 times in less than three years, government figures have revealed.

Civil Guard, Spanish Navy or customs craft transited the area up to six times a day between January 2015 and 10 October last year, the data released by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) showed.

Britain’s Government has protested their movements with Spanish authorities. They were “incompatible with the meaning of innocent passage as defined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea”, the FCO said in documents obtained by freedom of information.

The statistics come as Britain’s new 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth visits Gibraltar during its second stage of sea trials and a month after the UK and Spain held their their first informal Brexit-related talks.

Discussions in Madrid in January included how the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) could apply to Gibraltar, where 96 per cent of residents backed Remain in 2016’s referendum.

The EU’s guidelines on negotiations for Britain’s future relationship with the bloc granted Spain veto rights over the issue of Gibraltar, a tiny outcrop at the tip of the Iberian peninsula.

The FCO said the meeting was “productive” and that the Gibraltarian authorities who had been involved in arranging it had been briefed on it.

Last August Spain said it would not seek to use Brexit to recover sovereignty of Gibraltar, which it ceded in the Treaty of Utrecht three centuries ago.

Following the release of the figures, an FCO spokeswoman said: “The Royal Navy challenges all incursions in British Gibraltar territorial waters [BGTW], and we back this up diplomatically by protesting to the Spanish authorities. These actions effectively defend our sovereignty over BGTW.

“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 BGTW.”

A spokesman for the Spanish embassy in London told The Independent: “Spanish official vessels carry out activities in Spanish waters in the exercise of routine tasks in fulfilment of their duties.

“Spain does not recognise to the United Kingdom other rights and situations relating to Gibraltar’s maritime areas that are not covered by Article 10 of the Treaty of Utrecht, which ceded only ‘the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications and forts thereunto belonging’.

“The waters adjacent to Gibraltar are, therefore, Spanish. Spanish ships will continue to exercise their duties in Spanish waters in the same way they have always been doing.”

Earlier this year Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, told The Independent he believed the territory would have a veto over parts of any eventual Brexit deal if they do not work in its favour.

He has also called for a second vote on the final terms of the divorce agreement.

Additional reporting by agencies