THE people of Gibraltar are watching anxiously from the sidelines in the wake of Spain's latest general election, which saw the far-right Vox Party more than double its number of seats, with deputy chief minister Dr Joseph Garcia fearing there may be a consequent increase in inflammatory rhetoric which could make an orderly Brexit more difficult to achieve.

Mr Garcia told Express.co.uk: "Our concern has always been that the border has been a barometer of relations between Spain and Gibraltar over the years.

"It was completely closed from 1969 until 1985. It opened because Spain wanted to join the European Union and they could not have a closed border between the two sides."

"Now we are very clear. We may have voted 96 percent to remain in the European Union and we don't believe that choice that the foreign minister put to us is necessarily the choice - but if the choice were to be having a relationship with the EU and sharing sovereignty, or being outside the EU with no relationship and 100 percent British, then we are 100 percent British and we have no relationship with the European Union,” he told Express.

19-11-2019 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR