Spanish mayor warns hard-border with Gibraltar will be a disaster for his town and see it spiral into the hands of criminals as he pleads with Madrid to agree post-Brexit deal

Workers crossing from mainland Spain to Gibraltar could be forced to endure agonising 14-hour queues if the two cannot agree a post-Brexit deal, a border town mayor has warned.

Juan Franco, who oversees La Linea to the north of the British overseas territory, said the failure of Spain and Gibraltar to reach an agreement could have devastating consequences on the city's depressed economy - including thousands drifting towards the region's organised criminal gangs if they cannot work.

Since December 2020, a post-Brexit deal between the UK, Spain and the EU has allowed citizens of Gibraltar to remain part of the border-free Schengen area among other EU agreements.

As a result of this deal, Spanish border guards have allowed Gibraltar residents to enter and leave Spain without stamping their passports or using their 90-day travel limit.

In return, over 15,000 workers from Spain - who make up more than half of the working population on the Rock - have been allowed to enter Gibraltar with ease.

But nearly four years on, a permanent agreement has not been reached.

The situation has become all the more urgent as the European Union 's new digital border system creeps closer to being implemented.

The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES), originally set to roll out on November 10, intends to do away with passport checks and stamps, replacing the current system with a slew of biometric tests.

These would require non-EU passport holders, including Brits, to submit fingerprints and facial scans at their first point of entry into the Schengen Zone .

The continuation of a no deal between Gibraltar and Spain will make it inevitably much harder for workers to cross from the mainland, with passport stamps becoming a necessity.

Franco witnessed a small flavour of such a scenario when Spain decided to impose a surprise border control at the Gibraltar frontier earlier this month, sparking excessively large queues.

At the time, Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo said he had 'no alternative' but to to 'impose reciprocal arrangements' at entry to Gibraltar if border controls weren't lifted by the Spanish government by 7am.

Gibraltar's government said that by 7.30am a 'huge queue' had built up at the border 'as a result of the measures being implemented by Spain'.

The border controls were then lifted before being reverted later that morning, the Gibraltar government added, before both sides stopped checks at around 11.30am.

A statement from Gibraltar's government said that a Spanish police inspector who was 'not authorised to give that instruction by his superior' issued the order for Gibraltarians to have their passport stamped to cross into Spain.

Speaking to The Telegraph on Wednesday, Franco warned that workers could be waiting up to 14 hours once full Schengen border rules are enforced and called on Madrid to reach an agreement.

'We will go back to a similar place to where we were after 1969,' the mayor said, referring to a moment in Spain's history when then leader, the military dictator Francisco Franco, closed the border with Gibraltar and decimated La Linea's economy.

He added: 'Decisions should have been taken before this moment to find solutions that benefit the whole area on both sides of the border.

'Now we are up to our neck and close to drowning.'

Last year, Madrid and London came close to reaching a settlement but could not agree on the joint use of policing at Gibraltar Airport, which saw 473,803 passengers pass through the airport in 2023 alone.

Many of these passengers then travel on to nearby Spanish resorts such as Malaga and Marbella which are popular with British tourists.

Spain's foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said: 'It's time for the United Kingdom to say yes to a balanced and generous agreement that we have put on the table a long time ago.

'It is the UK that now has to choose whether it wants a system of restriction of movement for the people of Gibraltar or the generous and balanced deal on offer.'

However, Gibraltar's government has rebuked any plans to have Spanish police inside the territory.

Fabian Picardo, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, has stated he would not accept 'Spanish boots on the ground,' the Daily Telegraph reported.

His government has previously threatened to retaliate with its own border controls if no deal can be reached between both parties.

This could potentially lead to delays at the border.

The disputed territory has been a thorn in the side of British-Spanish relations for centuries ever since Gibraltar was seceded to the UK in 1713.