Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Spanish counterpart on recent illegal entry into Gibraltarean waters by Spanish vessels.

The Government continues to make diplomatic protests to Spain with respect to all incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW). Since the agreement of August 2015 to prioritise safety at sea and to step up law enforcement cooperation, there have been fewer incursions that have raised safety concerns and work on improving cooperation between law enforcement agencies is ongoing. Neither I nor the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond ), have therefore had cause to raise incursions into BGTW with our Spanish counterparts since my response to Written Question 11709 on 22 October 2015.