English, News voiceover, radio, broadcast journalist, documentary

Jonathan Sacramento

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Documentaries

Description

Four documents in the time leading up to the 2002 joint sovereignty proposals, which should have been disclosed under the 20 year rule, remain held in secret by the UK Government.
The Cabinet Office has rejected a freedom of information request from GBC for their disclosure.

Language

English

Voice Age

Middle Aged (35-54)

Accents

British (General)

Transcript

Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
In 2013, the UK changed its laws regarding disclosure of public records. It meant any documents would become available to the public in the national archives after 20 years, but there are exemptions. One of them being the protection of national interests. There are four documents cataloging cabinet discussions over relations with Gibraltar between 1997 and 2000. These remain undisclosed. The joint sovereignty negotiations began the following year in 2001 last November on the 20th anniversary of the joint sovereignty Referendum submitted a freedom of information request for their release. We argued that given the importance of the referendum, there was an interest in Gibraltar for the Uk's internal discussions over the rock to be a matter of public record. 4.5 months later, the cabinet office has replied, it says it recognizes there is a general public interest in order to ensure that decisions made by the authorities are scrutinized and that there is greater accountability. It also acknowledges the government's foreign policy should be evaluated by the public. However, it says it needs to balance this against the Uk's ability to pursue its national interests and it can do this more successfully if it conforms to the conventions of international behavior, avoids giving offense to other nations and retains the trust of international partners. It says taking all the circumstances into account the balance of interest favors withholding the information. In his memoirs, Mr Hain describes a tense relationship between Gibraltar and the foreign office describing officials attitudes towards Chief Minister Peter Caruana as contemptuous and the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's demeanor towards him as dismissive.