This has never been truer than these past 4 years. In November 2015 we were elected by you the people into Government with a vote of some 67%. Months later the Referendum date was announced and we all know what happened next.

Fabian and Joseph did what leaders do; they led us into months and months of immediate preparation with the Brexit team – there was no Summer break in 2016 as we worked our way through the heat maps of each area of our community’s economy analyzing and thinking through all of the consequences of this vote.

With no fuss but huge determination, they set off and created the first ever Gibraltar – UK JMC – Joint Ministerial Council. A forum to detail all of our direct negotiations with the UK Government. This was the cornerstone of our progress – from here we obtained agreement on the passporting of our financial services into the UK, Gaming access to the UK – guaranteed, problems addressed on passports, ID Cards, airports, goods – every aspect of our community considered and addressed.

Every single Minister has worked with the Brexit team in their areas of responsibility. Officials have supported this work and the result is that we are now well placed to face the Brexit challenge. But of course, this has never happened before; we are walking into the unknown and however well prepared we may be, the risks and dangers are so obvious.

Who is best placed to deal with these challenges? In my humble view, this is not the time to try something different or new, with no knowledge or experience of the dangers before us. Brexit is the biggest threat to our Jurisdiction for a generation.

But that is not all; we have worked across all areas of Government- to enhance and improve every aspect of our community. From improving the working environment for our businesses and cutting back the red tape to creating new areas of business and selling them across the world, to introducing the world’s much acclaimed first DLT legal framework. Introducing the new Financial Services Act working hand in hand with the private sector and preparing the new legislation for the next generation of Gambling firms. Preparations for eGovernment are well underway and months from digital services being offered to the public.

The quite incredible new sporting facilities, and the exceptional new schools are examples of what we aspire to. We have never seen such excellence of facilities in Gibraltar before, and we should all be proud of them. I have no doubt that we will have greatly improved performances from our students and sportsmen in the years ahead, directly as a result of these world leading facilities.

But perhaps most important of all, our Economic Plan for a post Brexit economy is of the most relevance. Sir Joe Bossano has repositioned the economy before in 1988 and he is the only person in Gibraltar with the knowledge, skills and ability to do this again.

We have always delivered on our promises. We deserve your trust and at this critical time in our history we ask for your confidence and your vote.

On October 17th, vote Balban, Bossano, Cortes, Daryanani, Garcia, Isola, Licudi, Linares, Picardo, Sacramento. We will not let you down!

10-10-2019 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR