BRITAIN will always stand up for Gibraltar, David Cameron has said.
The Prime Minister said the interests of the British territory mattered deeply as he held talks with Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar's Chief Minister, at Downing Street.
The meeting to discuss the ongoing border dispute with Spain came as Spanish police unions organised a protest at the border over injuries reportedly inflicted on a Guardia Civil officer by a driver in a Gibraltar-registered car.
There have been reports of increasing violence at the border in recent days as angry commuters face long queues travelling to their homes in Andalusia.
Mr Cameron told Mr Picardo: "Britain will always stand up for Gibraltar. We will always stand up for the interests of the people who live in Gibraltar.
"It is something that matters to us very deeply."
Mr Picardo thanked him, saying: "The people of Gibraltar know they have a friend in David Cameron and a friend in William Hague.
"That Gibraltar continues to be on your mind means a lot to us."
Mr Picardo also met Mr Hague, on Wednesday, to discuss the row with Spain over an artificial reef built off the enclave's coast.
The Spanish say the 74 concrete blocks on the seabed disrupt an area used by fishing boats, while the Gibraltarians say it is a necessary environmental measure.
The row has gone all the way to the European Commission and continued to simmer in recent days.
Delays of several hours at the frontier have led to claims of violence against Spanish police and Guardia Civil officers.
The Royal Gibraltar Police are investigating claims that "a small number of missiles" were thrown at Guardia Civil officers carrying out stringent traffic checks traffic at the border on Wednesday afternoon.
Protest organisers, the Sindicato Unificado de Policia and Asociacion Unificada de Guardias Civiles unions, have called on the Spanish government to "defend their interests".
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereCommments are closed on this article