Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of incursions by Spanish state vessels into the British waters around Gibraltar in the last 12 months.

There were 602 incursions by Spanish State vessels into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters from 1 March 2017 to 28 February 2018.

Incursions are a violation of sovereignty, not a threat to it. They do not weaken or undermine the legal basis in international law for British sovereignty over Gibraltar, including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. The Royal Navy continues to challenge all incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office backs this up politically by making formal diplomatic protests to the Spanish government.