According to Gibraltar's Panorama news service, Mr Murphy sought to clarify the position of the two states, following earlier remarks on the matter, explaining that:

"What's clear to myself and the FCO is that the relationship between the UK and Gibraltar is clearly a modern partnership of significance importance. A changed relationship, a modern relationship, and a relationship which British ministers have said on many occasions should not be described as colonial."

Commenting, the Gibraltar authorities announced that:

"Following the New Constitution, the UK Government has made it crystal clear by numerous statements in Parliament, in the UN and elsewhere that the relationship between the UK and Gibraltar is now modern, not colonial in nature and cannot be described as being based on colonialism."

"A phrase used by Foreign Office Minister Jim Murphy when giving evidence recently to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, was publicly misinterpreted by Mr Bossano in a way which he said meant that these statements by the UK Government did not mean that it thought that Gibraltar had ceased to be a colony, and that this therefore contradicted the Gibraltar Government’s stance."

"For its part the Gibraltar Government rejected Mr Bossano’s interpretation of Mr Murphy’s words in the Foreign Affairs Committee."

The Government continued: "The Statement made on Thursday by Mr Murphy during his visit to Gibraltar leave the matter crystal clear: - “If you do not have a colonial relationship, it is not a colony.”

"This is precisely what the Gibraltar Government has been saying all along. It is simple semantic and political logic. The matter of what the UK and Gibraltar Governments think is thus now settled."

"Neither Government considers that Gibraltar is a colony or in a colonial relationship with the UK."

"A wholly different matter is whether the UN chooses to recognise this reality and thus “delist” us, i.e. remove Gibraltar from its list of non-self governing territories."

"That will require the UN to change the anachronistic tests and requirements (sometimes called criteria) under which it assesses whether a territory should be removed from its list of non-self governing territories."

"That is a matter for the UN, but does not alter the reality, nor the position of the UK and Gibraltar Governments on the matter."

"This represents the successful achievement of the Government’s longstanding policy, namely, to obtain decolonisation by a process of modernising our constitutional relationship with the UK whilst leaving intact our British Sovereignty and our close Constitutional links with Britain."

"Any politician, like Mr Bossano, who thinks that more needs to be achieved without the UN changing its so-called “delisting criteria”, should explain clearly to the people of Gibraltar what changes they would wish to make to our existing relationship with Britain in order to satisfy the UN’s existing delisting requirements."

"The test of whether or not the UK believes we are a colony is what she clearly declares her position to be on that question."

The Government statement concluded:

"Nor is the test whether the UK continues to agree annual consensus resolutions at the UN – which relate to the sovereignty dispute and not to decolonisation."

"Only Spain equates the sovereignty dispute with decolonisation."