Here’s Why Tensions Are Flaring Over Gibraltar: QuickTake Q&A

Less than a week after the U.K. triggered talks to leave the European Union, the first diplomatic fight has erupted. It’s over Gibraltar, the rocky outcrop at Spain’s southern tip. The flare-up came Sunday when Michael Howard, who led the U.K.’s Conservative Party from 2003 to 2005, made a comparison between the conflict with Spain over Gibraltar and the 1982 Falklands War between the U.K. and Argentina. The dispute, coupled with its gleeful reception in parts of the British press, undermines Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes that Spain might be an ally in Brexit negotiations.

EU President Donald Tusk’s draft guidelines on Brexit talks gave Spain the final say on whether any EU-U.K. deal would apply to Gibraltar. That caused panic in Gibraltar -- where the overwhelming majority of residents want to remain British -- and concern in the U.K., which has always said it would defend Gibraltarians against Spain’s claims to sovereignty. The EU has tended to be neutral on Gibraltar but as the U.K. leaves the bloc, Spain might expect the EU’s support. Gibraltar’s status as an off-shore, low-tax haven where Britain’s nuclear submarines occasionally cause trouble poses problems for Spain that go beyond patriotism.