Politics

AFTER five years as the British ambassador to Spain and Andorra, Hugh Elliott has bid farewell in an emotional goodbye video message as he prepares to return to London.  Alex Ellis, a former High Commissioner to India and British ambassador to Brazil and Portugal, will take up the role as the UK’s man in Madrid following Elliott’s departure. In a …

CHIEF Minister Fabian Picardo has returned to Gibraltar following his first face-to-face meeting with the UK’s new Labour government. Picardo, accompanied by deputy chief minister Dr Joseph Garcia and the attorney general Michael Llamas, held a meeting with David Lammy, the UK’s foreign secretary, in London on Wednesday. In a tweet, the chief minister said: “I am very pleased with …

PEDRO Sanchez has been accused of ‘colonising’ the independent Bank of Spain after reports emerged that a government minister is set to be announced as the central bank’s new chief. Jose Luis Escriva, the current digital transformation minister, will be unveiled as the Bank of Spain’s new governor on Wednesday, according to government sources, replacing the outgoing Pablo Hernandez de …

ISRAEL has called on Spain to renege its recognition of Palestine as a nation state in the wake of the murder of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Israel Katz, Israel’s ever-controversial foreign minister, took to X to urge Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, to reverse the ‘dangerous step’ of recognising a Palestinian state. He said: “The brutal murder …

A SPANISH mayor has been branded as ‘far-right’ after criticising the decision to move hundreds of adult asylum seekers from the Canary Islands to his small seaside town this week. Marti Pujal, the mayor for Tossa de Mar, a coastal settlement of 6,000 residents on the Costa Brava popular with Brits, slammed the planned movement of migrants as ‘excessive’ and …

SPANISH Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will make a visit to London in the coming weeks as part of a last-ditch effort to save a post-Brexit deal on Gibraltar. That’s according to Spanish daily El Pais, which reports that Albares will be meeting with his new British counterpart, David Lammy, to try to hammer out the British Overseas Territory’s relationship …

THE Spanish government has blocked a €600m bid from a Hungarian consortium for the train manufacturer Talgo, citing ‘risks to national security and public order’.  “The cabinet has agreed today to not authorise the foreign direct investment in Talgo by Ganz-Mavag Europe Private Limited”, the finance ministry said in a statement. “The analysis has determined that authorising this operation would …

PEDRO Sanchez has vowed to support the creation of 250,000 new jobs in the poverty-stricken west African nation of Mauritania in an effort to stem the tide of tens of thousands of migrants who attempt to reach Spain each year.  The Spanish prime minister is currently on a tour of Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia, the starting point for the …

PEDRO Sanchez is today embarking on a tour of three west African countries in an effort to stem the tide of irregular migrants who attempt to reach the Canary Islands, widely regarded as the world’s most dangerous migration route.  The Spanish Prime Minister will meet his counterparts in Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia over the coming week, the starting point …

THE Mossos d’Esquadra have admitted that ‘mistakes’ were made in their plan to arrest Carles Puigdemont after the former Catalan president successfully fled Spain once again after making a brief speech in Barcelona city centre earlier this month. According to a leaked report sent between Catalunya’s regional police force and the Spanish Supreme Court, a police aerial drone that was …