UK finalises post-Brexit border deal for Gibraltar

British travellers to Gibraltar will show their passports to Spanish border officials, under a deal with the EU to remove the Rock's land border with Spain.

Details of the jointly-managed border have been confirmed in a new treaty between the two sides unveiled on Thursday.

It is designed to bring clarity to Gibraltar's future, nearly a decade after the Brexit vote threw the status of the British overseas territory into doubt.

Pressure to reach a deal had been mounting ahead of the full application of new checks on passengers entering the passport-free Schengen zone in April.

Under the deal, Gibraltar will not officially join the zone, made up of 29 mainly EU countries, but Schengen-style border checks will instead be carried out on travellers arriving at the territory's port and airport.

Gibraltarian officials will carry out initial checks on arrivals, with Spanish authorities then conducting "second line" checks in a special zone.

The system is designed to remove checks at Gibraltar's land border with Spain, which is crossed every day by around half of the Rock's workforce.

The UK government is likening it to the system in operation at London's St Pancras station, where Eurostar passengers are checked by both British and French officials before boarding trains for the continent.

The government also says a majority of goods destined for Gibraltar will be cleared by EU customs offices in Spain, in a deal designed to avoid the need for customs checks at the land border.

Gibraltar was not covered by the UK's 2021 trade deal with the EU, and the UK has previously described it as the "last piece of the EU exit jigsaw".

The treaty implements a political deal agreed between the UK and EU in June last year, and confirms key details of how the new arrangements will work in practice.

It has been published in draft form whilst legal teams complete final reviews and translation of the text. It will have to be ratified by both the UK and European Parliaments.