[phoronixrly]

> After years of negotiation involving Spain, the EU and the UK, the solution has been to align Gibraltar with the European customs union and the Schengen European free travel zone.

> Travellers arriving from countries outside Schengen, such as the UK, will have to show their passports to Gibraltarian and Spanish officials at the territory's airport and port.

So an L for the UK as Gibraltar has again freedom of movement to the EU (that edit: half the British hated so much), and lack thereof to the UK...

[iainmerrick]

It's really ridiculous how little discussion there was about places like Gibraltar and Northern Ireland before the Brexit vote.

Looks like NI voted ~55% remain and Gibraltar ~95% remain, but too bad, England voted ~53% leave, so screw all you little overseas territories with actual land borders who are most directly impacted.

[rgblambda]

As someone from one of the territories mentioned, it was frustrating in the run-up to the referendum, and immediately after it, watching the local media try to get the view of English voters as to how they thought that was supposed to work.

The impression I got was leave voters either thought it would all work out somehow, or that they cared so little about the non GB territories to the point that they felt they didn't need to address to question.

[iso1631]

And places like London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, York, Warwick voted 60% to remain but still got taken out. Places like Oxford and Cambridge were over 70% remain.

What should have happened was the ability for any person to retain their European citizenship, or if under 18 choose on their 18th birthday. Then the remainers would not have had their rights stripped away.

The catch being if more than 50% of adults took this up, then the UK would not leave.

[nephihaha]

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. Wales was more mixed.

Northern Ireland got the best deal of the three. Thanks to the Good Friday Agreement, people there can get Irish (and therefore EU) passports.

This is a perennial issue in Scottish politics, but Scotland, unlike Northern Ireland, and maybe Kent, does not have a land border with the EU.

My personal hope was that the UK would remain in the EU, but both the EU and UK would take a look at themselves. Instead both are heading more and more towards censorship and heavy control of their citizens.

[maccard]

The Good Friday deal doesn't entitle everyone born in NI to Irish Citizenship. (anymore). It's a little more complicated than that for people born in the last 20 years.

> Since 1 January 2005, if you are born in Northern Ireland, you can claim Irish citizenship if your parent (or parents) are either British or Irish citizens, or one of them has lived on the island of Ireland for at least 3 out of the 4 years immediately before your birth.

> unlike Northern Ireland, and maybe Kent, does not have a land border with the EU.

NI's Land Border with Ireland is a "special" border. Ireland isn't in the Schengen Area (IIRC Cyprus is the only other EU country that isn't Schengen), and as a result of that has passport checks at all arrival areas - this is _because_ of the border with NI already. It was already special cased, and thankfully hasn't ended up with a UN buffer zone as a result of this mess.

That said, I agree with you 98%!

[iso1631]

Of course there aren't passport checks on planes or boats between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, but that only applies to Irish and British citizens.

On planes/boats between Northern Ireland and Great Britain there aren't passport checks, but they can and do check your passport.

[maccard]

> Of course there aren't passport checks on planes or boats between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, but that only applies to Irish and British citizens.

And the only way to enforce that is to not enforce it all, or to check everyone for documents. Both cork and Dublin airports have a manned border check for all inbound flights (can’t speak for other airports) but a passport isn’t required. If you fly between European countries there’s no border check _at all_. (Your airline may check but that’s different).

> On planes/boats between Northern Ireland and Great Britain there aren't passport checks, but they can and do check your passport.

That’s a domestic flight so yeah. Anecdotally I don’t think I’ve ever been stopped for a passport check in 15 years of flying between the Uk and Belfast.

[rjsw]

The UK and the Republic of Ireland make up the Common Travel Area [1], the lack of passport checks didn't happen automatically.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area

[palmotea]

> It's really ridiculous how little discussion there was about places like Gibraltar and Northern Ireland before the Brexit vote.

> Looks like NI voted ~55% remain and Gibraltar ~95% remain, but too bad, England voted ~53% leave, so screw all you little overseas territories with actual land borders who are most directly impacted.

Most people only care about things like that when they're on the losing side of a vote. When they win, the attitude is "fuck you, we won, comply."

See: the total lack of respect from urban US voters/politicians for the different social policy preferences rural areas often want.

[was_a_dev]

> freedom of movement to the EU (that the British hated so much)

A generalisation that only applied to, at most, 52% of the voting British public

[SideburnsOfDoom]

> at most, 52% of the voting British public

Indeed. And, At a point in time ten years ago. In voters who skewed older.

See the Voter Flow diagram: https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1pj8kzd/voters_and_...

[was_a_dev]

What a brilliantly depressing graphic

[pjc50]

The UK will eventually demand the return of freedom of movement of people and goods, for exactly the same reasons as it entered the EU in the first place. Might take another 20 years though.

[darkwater]

Looks like we have a lot of British "nationalists" leavers downvoting everything here. I mean, you comment is basically a fact: Brexit implied losing Schengen, it was part of it from day 0. Putting back Gibraltar in Schengen is a defeat for Brexit supporters.

EDIT: not Schengen, sorry, although I'm pretty sure I just used my national (European) ID to go to London many many years ago and not my passport.

[maccard]

> Brexit implied losing Schengen, it was part of it from day 0. Putting back Gibraltar in Schengen.

Gibraltar isn't going into the Schengen, it's just going to follow all of the rules of the Schengen area. It's always(?) required a passport check anyway. It's definitely semantics, though!

> EDIT: not Schengen, sorry, although I'm pretty sure I just used my national (European) ID to go to London many many years ago and not my passport.

You could travel with ID cards pre-brexit. The Schengen area has _no_ checks on the borders, so you don't even need an ID card. (However, the place you're travelling to/from may require you to carry one).

[rjsw]

The UK was not in Schengen when it was a member of the EU.

[darkwater]

Thanks for the correction, edited the comment