The Gibraltar sovereignty referendum of 2002 was a
referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
, called by the Government of
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
and held on 7 November 2002 within the British overseas territory, on a proposal by the
UK Government
His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. to share
sovereignty
Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
of the territory between Spain and the United Kingdom. The result was a rejection of the proposal by a landslide majority, with little more than one per cent of the electorate in favour.
Background

Spain ceded Gibraltar to the
British Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
under
Article X of the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...
in 1713. However, Spain
disputes the status of Gibraltar and has made numerous attempts to recover the territory, initially
by military force and later by economic and diplomatic means. Recovering sovereignty has been a publicly stated objective of successive Spanish governments.
In July 2001,
Jack Straw
John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...
, the British Foreign Secretary, began discussing the future of Gibraltar with Spain.
[ Following secret talks with Spain over the following year,] Straw announced in July 2002 that "the UK was willing to share sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain" and that "the final decision would rest with the people of Gibraltar in a referendum."
The Government of Gibraltar
His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The head of state is King Charles III who is represented by the Governor. Elections in Gibraltar are held every four ...
strongly opposed this announcement. They responded by announcing a referendum on the proposal of shared sovereignty with Spain, to be held on 7 November 2002. This pre-empted any plans for a referendum to be held only after the negotiations between Britain and Spain had concluded. Jack Straw described the Gibraltar referendum as "eccentric", and Britain's Foreign Office announced it would not recognise the results.
Although Straw had announced the talks on joint sovereignty, numerous issues remained to be resolved. Firstly, Spain insisted on a time limit, after which full sovereignty would be transferred to Spain. Secondly, Spain would not agree to a referendum in Gibraltar on either joint sovereignty or self-determination
Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage.
Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
. Finally, Spain wanted a greater role than simply joint use of Gibraltar as a military base. Writing in 2009, researcher Peter Gold argued that these disagreements made a final agreement, which would have then instigated a British-run referendum per Straw's July 2002 announcement, only a remote possibility.
Referendum question
The referendum held by the Government of Gibraltar asked voters this question:
Permitted answers were YES or NO, indicated by marking a box with an X.
Conduct
The Government of Gibraltar
His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The head of state is King Charles III who is represented by the Governor. Elections in Gibraltar are held every four ...
invited a panel of observers headed by the British MP Gerald Kaufman
Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman (21 June 1930 – 26 February 2017) was a British politician and author who served as a minister throughout the Labour government of 1974 to 1979. Elected as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of parliame ...
. Their report stated that "The observers were extremely impressed with the organisation of the referendum and particularly welcome that the role of the observers was integral to the process, as distinct from the more passive role of observers in other elections. The meticulous way in which votes were counted exceeded requirements and went beyond requirements adopted for UK elections".
Results
Reactions
Peter Caruana, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar
The chief minister of Gibraltar is the head of Government of Gibraltar, His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar who is Elections in Gibraltar, elected by the Gibraltar Parliament, and formally appointed by the governor of Gibraltar, representat ...
, said of the result: "We say to the British Government: Take stock of this referendum result, it's the will of the people of Gibraltar", and that the planned path to joint sovereignty was a "dead end road for everyone".
Reaction in Spain was mostly negative, with ''El País
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' calling the referendum a "dishonest consultation", while Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ana Palacio described it as "illegal" and "against all the UN resolutions". However, ''El País'' also said that "no Spanish Government, neither this one or its predecessors, has done enough to make joint sovereignty or integration with Spain an attractive prospect".
In London, Jack Straw
John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...
was criticised by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, stating that he was wrong to agree to joint sovereignty with Spain, when this was unacceptable to the people of Gibraltar. Their report also emphasised the importance of the referendum, which represented the views of Gibraltarians. ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' said "the people of Gibraltar today overwhelmingly rejected the principle of Britain sharing sovereignty of the Rock with Spain".[
]
Aftermath
Prior to the referendum the British Government repeatedly stated that it would not recognise the outcome. After the referendum the Government of Gibraltar demanded involvement in any further talks with Spain.[*]
Under an initiative originally started in 1999, the Government of Gibraltar, together with opposition parties, negotiated a new Constitution of Gibraltar. The major issue in negotiations was the desire by Gibraltar politicians for a preamble whereby the "British Government ought to commit itself to the question of self-determination in unequivocal terms", which the British government initially resisted."[ ] After Margaret Beckett
Margaret Mary Beckett, Baroness Beckett, (; born 15 January 1943), is a British politician. She was a member of Parliament (MP) for more than 45 years, first from 1974 to 1979 and then from 1983 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was ...
succeeded Straw as Foreign Secretary in 2006, there was a shift in British policy on Gibraltar that effectively recognised the preamble to the 1969 constitution, agreed that any future discussions on sovereignty would need to involve Gibraltar, and would require an improved relationship between Spain and Gibraltar.[Gold, 2005, p.317] This compromise led to the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006, which reduced the powers of the (British-appointed) Governor of Gibraltar
The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territories, British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of ...
and transferred them to local officials, and incorporated a bill of "fundamental rights and freedoms" into the constitution. This reform had cross-party support in Gibraltar, and was submitted to a referendum. The resulting 2006 Gibraltarian constitutional referendum approved these reforms by 60-38%. Although this had cross-party support in Gibraltar, when submitted to a referendum on adoption a significant no vote emerged. Although reasons were diverse, there were two aspects to objections: firstly, the commitment to retaining British sovereignty was seen to not be sufficiently secure; and secondly, the new constitution was deemed not advanced enough in allowing the exercise of the right to self-determination.
See also
* 1967 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum
* 1980 Quebec referendum
The 1980 Quebec independence referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois (PQ) government ...
* 1995 Quebec referendum
The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should proclaim sovereignty and become an independent country, with the condition precedent of ...
* 1999 Australian republic referendum
The Australian republic referendum held on 6 November 1999 was a two-question referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia. The first question asked whether Australia should become a republic, under a bi-partisan appointment model where ...
* 2008 Tuvaluan constitutional referendum
* 2009 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines constitutional referendum
* 2013 Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum
* 2014 Scottish independence referendum
A independence referendum, referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or ...
* Referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union, 2016
References
{{Gibraltar topics
Sovereignty referendum
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
Referendums in Gibraltar
Sovereignty referendums
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
Spain–United Kingdom relations