Gibraltar ought in justice to be returned to Spain

This will be greatly appreciated by both other readers and I. I will be arguing that Gibraltar should remain a British overseas territory, as I stated in round 1. I will divide my opening argument into three subdivisions that will each provide separate reasons for Gibraltar to remain with the UK. These three subdivisions will make up the essence of my argument. They will be: D1: Political Reasons D2: Economic Reasons D3: Cultural Reasons I expect this to be a heated, yet very interesting debate. Again, good luck! D1: Political Reasons 1. Declaration of Unity between Gibraltar and the UK In 2000 over 12000 Gibraltarians, 65% of the population, voiced their support to have a joint declaration of unity with the UK. The declaration of unity, in a nutshell, described that ". .. the people of Gibraltar will never compromise, give up or trade their sovereignty or their right to self-determination; that Gibraltar wants good, neighborly, European relations with Spain; and that Gibraltar belongs to the people of Gibraltar and is neither Spain's to claim or Britain's to give away" [1]. This declaration of unity clearly presents that the Gibraltarians have chosen that they wish to belong to the UK as an oversees territory as opposed to joining Spain. This is a very important point that will arise again in the Cultural segment of my argument. 2. Hypocrisy of Spain Spain claims that they want Gibraltar because they have a stronger claim on Gibraltar than the UK does and that it is unfair that the UK holds provinces in lands that are rightfully theirs. However, Spain fails to mention that they themselves own territories, in Ceuta and Melilla, which rightfully belong to Morocco. In my opinion, and the opinion of others, Spain could only press claim on Gibraltar if they released the colonies in Ceuta and Melilla. As it is clear that this will not happen in the near future, Spain has no right to press claims on Gibraltar. 3. Various independence referendums The subject of the fate of Gibraltar has been a heavily debated topic for over half a century. This is clear because the first independence referendum was held in Gibraltar back in 1967. The result being that 12,138 of the 12,237 voters voted to remain a territory of the UK. Another referendum was held in 2002 yielding a similar result when only 187 of the nearly 18,000 voters voted for independence [2]. Similarly to the first argument in this division, Gibraltar has clearly expressed through political means that it does not wish to either become independent or join Spain. 4. Gibraltarians are officially British citizens In 1981, the UK granted Gibraltar full British citizenship following the British Nationality Act. This allowed the Gibraltarians to self-govern themselves despite the fact that the queen is still the technical head of state. This is further evidence to the claim that the Gibraltarians are British and not Spanish and deserve to remain within their home country of the UK. D2: Economic Reasons 1. UK has a solid economy Currently, the UK has the 6th largest economy in the world, and the second largest in Europe. They have a GDP of $2.497 trillion and a GDP per capita of roughly $40,000. The UK has a total debt of £1,270.8 billion, which is roughly 75% of the total GDP, placing the UK in a fairly comfortable position [3]. 2. Spain has a dreadful economy Spain has the 12th largest economy in Europe. They have a GDP of $1.349 trillion and a GDP per capita of roughly $29,000. They also have unemployment of over one quarter of the population and have a debt that consumes 95% of the GDP [4]. 3. Comparison Given the following statistics, the UK has a higher GDP and GDP per capita, less debt, less unemployment, and overall has a stronger economy. Given the fact that Spain has an abysmal economy it would be in the Gibraltarians best interest for them to remain within the UK. However, given the fact that Gibraltar is a strong tax haven, it is clear that one of the sole reasons for why Spain wants Gibraltar is so that they can save their struggling economy. D3: Cultural Reasons 1. Gibraltar is British Due to the fact that Gibraltar has been under British control for over 300 years; it would be easy to assume that the Gibraltarians have become assimilated into the British culture. This can be seen in the use of the English language, British banks, money, shops, etc. [5]. Also, given the two referendums in 1967 and 2002 that were discussed in D1 it is clear that Gibraltar has displayed that it is clearly British and that it would be strange for them to be given to Spain. Conclusion Given these numerous examples of how Gibraltar has no desire or any reason to become independent from the UK, I feel that I have provided substantial evidence as of why Gibraltar should remain a UK overseas territory. I await my opponent’s rebuttals in the upcoming rounds. Sources [1] . https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi... [2] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [3] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [4] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [5] . http://news.uk.msn.com...