Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times vessels from the Guardia Civil have entered (a) British Territorial Waters or (b) any Gibraltarian Port in each of the last 10 days.

Between 19 and 29 November 2022, there were 17 entries by Guardia Civil vessels into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, of which 12 were classed as Innocent Passage under Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The other five entries breached UNCLOS Article 19 and were classed as Surface Incursions, with one incursion taking place on each of 19, 21, 22, 23 and 24 November. We protest these incursions directly with the vessels concerned and via diplomatic channels. There were no entries into any Gibraltarian port.