European Commission Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Spanish Minister for ForeignAffairs José Manuel Albares and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, together with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo, met in Brussels on Thursday 16th May.
Mr Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise to deliver my fourth Budget speech as Leader of the Opposition and my ninth overall.
Unhappily, Mr. Speaker, this year we find ourselves debating these estimates of revenue and expenditure against the backdrop of a BREXIT vote at the referendum and potentially the single largest threat to our economic model since the closure of the frontier and, in my view, in the history of democratic Government in Gibraltar.
The Chief Minister has painted a bright picture of the Gibraltar economy, telling Parliament that GDP has grown by 7.5% to £1.77 billion, with a surplus of £38.8 million.
The strong possibility that the UK will leave the European Union following last month’s referendum cast a long shadow over this morning’s Budget session in Parliament.