‘Isolated British Europeans’: How EEC Membership Helped the Gibraltarians Secure British Citizenship, 1962–1981

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ‘European’ strand of modern Gibraltarian identity, exemplified by the territory’s 96 per cent ‘Remain’ vote in the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum, owes much to the fact that joining the EEC with Britain in 1973 enabled Gibraltarians to bypass the UK’s increasingly restrictive immigration regime, which since the first Commonwealth Immigrants Act in 1962 had reserved the right of abode for the British-born and their descendants. In 1981, when British citizenship was redefined and split into three new categories, it was Gibraltar’s place within the EEC, and the rights associated with membership, that proved the decisive factor in securing full British citizenship, uniquely amongst Britain’s dependent territories at the time. Although this concession has been seen as a case of racial exceptionalism, this article places the Gibraltarian campaign for British citizenship in its historic context, and shows that it was not simply the result of short term political calculation but a long term recognition that European integration offered Gibraltarians a new set of rights, over and above other territories, and a means of binding themselves closer to the UK. After Brexit, Gibraltarians may once again occupy a unique position as citizens of the only British territory within the Schengen zone.