Gibraltar and Madrid Hold Talks

Spain and Gibraltar have held informal talks for the first time in three years.

An informal lunch at the weekend, hosted by the Socialist mayor of the nearby Spanish town of Los Barrios, saw Gibraltar's chief minister, Peter Caruana, sit down with José Pons, the senior Spanish diplomat for Europe. A Gibraltar statement said the meeting was positive, constructive and friendly". Spain confirmed that it had been "cordial and constructive".

In 2002 Mr Caruana won 99% of the vote in a referendum on Anglo-Spanish attempts to reach a co-sovereignty deal, after which London said it would have to be contingent on consent.

Last month Spain, now ruled by the Socialists, expressed dismay at British participation in the Rock's celebration of a 300-year anniversary, but officials have also said they wanted to "work with" the Gibraltarians. "It is a new dimension that the government may give special impetus to," Bernardino Leon, number two at the Spanish foreign ministry, told a radio programme.