Residents fear the new UK-EU treaty will erode their unique way of life.

13:01, Mon, Mar 2, 2026 Updated: 13:02, Mon, Mar 2, 2026

Gibraltar and the Sea

Residents fear the new UK-EU treaty will erode their unique way of life (Image: Getty)

Spanish border guards will be allowed to check the passports of travellers to Gibraltar under the deal agreed with the EU to create an open land border with Spain. The extra Spanish checks will be carried out at the Rock's airport and port and will come into force in April, the 1,000-page draft treaty published on Thursday (February 26) confirmed, nearly a decade after the Brexit vote threw the British Overseas Territory's status into doubt.

The deal will see Spanish boots put on the ground inside the territory for the first time and has sparked fears among its residents who celebrate its unique way of life. “There’s lots of very worried people out there,” Owen Smith, the chair of the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses said. “I think that is who and what Gibraltar is: a British territory. We are British citizens and people don’t want to lose that."

Rock of Gibraltar

Gibraltar's high street has British names and products in its stores, all of which are under threat, Mr Smith warns (Image: Getty)

Mr Smith warned that the treaty will bring short-term problems for businesses. New tax rates - effectively a VAT duty to align the Rock with the EU - will start by mid-April.

“If you are importing goods from the UK, but those goods are manufactured elsewhere, as many goods from the UK are, you will have paid a 12 per cent EU tariff on top of the new 15 per cent transaction tax,” he said, according to The Sunday Times. “So we’re talking about 27, 29, 30 per cent really, when by the time you factor in things like transport costs, packaging and so on, that’s huge.”

He said that most members of his federation, integrated into a UK supply chain, will no longer be economically viable, warning that Gibraltar will lose what makes it unique.

"We have British names on our High Street, British products in our shops. We have a UK three-pin plug in our wall and all of those things I think are under threat. Exactly how that fact is going to pan out is not really fully understood at this juncture.”

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Spanish Border Police Car

Spanish guards will have powers to arrest, search and interview travellers (Image: Getty)

Fellow laywer Erika Pozo said the physical removal of the 0.7-mile chain link border fence - the Verja - which the British erected in 1909 after a yellow fever epidemic, provoked strong emotions. It would mean the disappearance of "the last wall in continental Europe," said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares in a video clip welcoming the deal.

“It will be celebrated by many in Spain as a symbolic victory, reinforcing their longstanding sovereignty claim,” she said. “This in my opinion is tragic and the perception it will give cannot be ignored. I have to say that personally I will feel less British and less secure than I once did.”

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She added that the reality of having Spanish officers at Gibraltar's entry points and on the ground, whatever the size of their role, will be hard to stomach, particularly for the older generation " who lived through periods of hardship and tension".

Spanish guards will have powers to arrest, search and interview travellers "where it is justified in the course of border control," according to the treaty. The Foreign Office said British passport holders - who accounted for 86.5% of all departures from its airport in 2024 - will have to provide fingerprints to Spanish border officials upon arrival at Gibraltar airport. The EU's new Entry/Exit System (EES), will also apply to non-EU nationals entering the territory.