18% of Britons would return Gibraltar to Spain

Despite being an anomaly in today’s Europe and a constant source of tension with Madrid, only 18% of Britons today are in favor of returning the Rock of Gibraltar to Spain.

The figure is collected in a survey “How would the British people feel if any part of the United Kingdom seceded?” which was published by Yougov last Friday and consulted 2,034 adults living in the British Isles.

When asked what the Rock’s destination should be, 53% of respondents were in favor of it continuing to be part of the so-called British domains, while 18% supported its return to Spain. However 47% considered that the final decision on the fate of the disputed area should be made by its residents. In referendums in 1967 and 2002, Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected the possibility of rejoining Spain.

The possibility that Spain, for one reason or another, succeeds in regaining sovereignty over Gibraltar is not something that bothers the majority of Britons, specifically those 48%. For their part, 33% admit that they do not like the idea, and barely 10% say that they would be happy if it happened.

The case of the Malvinas

But the Rock is not the only territory that most Britons do not want to part with, regardless of the diplomatic problems or the bad international image it causes. Something similar is happening with the Falklands, What do they call it in Great Britain? The Malvinas Islands, whose sovereignty is claimed by Argentina.

52% of Britons support that these islands, located in the South Atlantic, remain under the control of London, and only 16% support their delivery to Buenos Aires. In the last two years Scottish independence is back on the political agendathanks to the decision of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to promote a second referendum on secession, capitalizing on discontent among Scots Brexit. However, the majority of citizens do not want this to happen, according to Youg’s survey.

58% of respondents want Scotland to continue with England, Wales and Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. This information is significant, because the English make up the majority of the country’s 66 million inhabitants, and therefore it can be assumed that most of them refuse to let their neighbors to the north break up the already three-hundred-year-old union.

The idea of ​​Welsh independence is even less palatable. Thus, 62 percent reject the possibility of the third country of the island of Great Britain separating, while 17 percent would not see it as a bad thing, the demographic study shows. However, when the British are asked about the fate of Northern Ireland there, the results are different. 40% of respondents believe that the conflict territory should remain within the United Kingdom, while 34% claim that it should be included in the neighboring Republic of Ireland. Another interesting fact is that almost 43% of Britons are indifferent to the future of this province.