Sunday 29 May 2016

Does Picardo have BREXIT Plan?

The Independent newspaper in the UK has suggested that Picardo said that if BREXIT happened Gibraltar would seek a joint sovereignty arrangement with Spain.

That newspaper has corrected that statement following representations made by Picardo. So we should accept that there has been a misquote.

However, this incident highlights one important matter. It is that Picardo is Chief Minister. Consequently he and his Government will have to steer Gibraltar through the extremely difficult times that may follow a BREXIT vote.

The silence of Picardo and his Government on what its policies in this eventuality are is palpable. Should the GSLP Government not be telling the people of Gibraltar what the Government's intentions are in this eventuality? This is especially important in light of the enormous direct and indirect public borrowing that Picardo's Government have incurred. 

This borrowing has weakened Gibraltar's ability to fend off the economic effects that may result from a BREXIT. This has been gross irresponsibility on the part of the GSLP Government. It contrasts sharply with the Bossano GSLP government of 1988 to 1996. At that time the "rainy day" fund was paramount.