Friday, 8 November, 2002, 07:24 GMT

The result was an overwhelming rejection of a deal The people of Gibraltar have voted overwhelmingly to reject any agreement to give Spain joint sovereignty over the British colony.

Referendum result

Yes: 187 votes (1.03%)

No: 17,900 (98.97%)

Turnout: 18,176 (87.9%)

Almost 99% of voters said No to the question: "Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?"

Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, who called the referendum, said the result "sent a clear message to the world".

Although Madrid and London have been holding negotiations about the status of the Rock, they have not made any final agreement about the colony's future.

Both Spain and the UK said they would not recognise the referendum.

'No surprise'

"Fellow Gibraltarians, today we have sent a clear message to the world... one, that this is our homeland; two, that we are a people with political rights that we will not give up; and three, that those rights include the right to freely direct our own future and we will certainly not give that up," Mr Caruana said in his victory speech.

Britain's Europe Minister Dennis McShane said the result came as "no surprise".

"Many on the Rock have long had serious concerns about a dialogue with Spain," he said.

"I understand that and will continue to listen to people's views.

"But the fact remains that there can be no stable future for Gibraltar while the dispute with Spain continues and important issues remain unresolved."

He emphasised the UK Government's commitment not to change Gibraltar's status without the consent of the people in a referendum, but said there were no proposals to alter its sovereignty on the table.

Michael Ancram, the foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party, called for the British Government to now abandon all proposals for shared sovereignty.

''The people of Gibraltar have given the prime minister their decision," Mr Ancram said.

There has been little official Spanish reaction to the referendum so far, although deputy premier Mariano Rajoy, speaking on Catalan radio, declared it ''illegal".

"What matters to us... is that the talks we are holding with the United Kingdom... can continue in future and reach an agreement that satisfies all of us," Mr Rajoy said.

However, BBC Europe correspondent Tim Franks says there has not been much progress in these talks over the summer and that the British Government will find it difficult to write off the result because it is so emphatic.

European thorn

Just 187 people - 1.03% of voters - voted in support of an agreement with Spain. Turnout was 87.9%, or 18,176 voters.

The result repeats the outcome of a referendum 25 years ago in which Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly to remain British.

Many Gibraltarians complain that the British Government is trying to "sell them down the river" by doing a deal with Spain to smooth over an issue which has long been a thorn in the side of European relations.

In July, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told parliament that Britain and Spain were in "broad agreement" about the principles of sharing sovereignty but that there were outstanding issues that remained to be resolved.

Spain is believed to regard shared sovereignty as a temporary, rather than a permanent, solution and is reluctant to give Gibraltar the final say.

The issues at stake include the future of Gibraltar's military base.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he is ready to share the base with Spain.

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2002