Together Gibraltar believes that the £8 fee attached to parcels over £25 is an ill-conceived policy, both socially and from a business perspective, that does very little to protect our retail sector and limits free trade in a way that impacts the local consumer unfairly.

Firstly, there is the issue of the blanket fee. This means, for example, that a top of the range computer worth thousands of pounds will be “taxed” the same amount as a  £50 e-reader.  It also means that there will be no consideration given to the social value or availability of these items in Gibraltar, so a designer handbag available here will pay the same amount as an Oxford English dictionary or a hardback novel which cannot be bought in Gibraltar.

If Government is struggling to subsidise some of our basic public services due to the ill health of our public finances it should say so loud and clear, and then try to find fair and progressive ways to fix this deficit. TG believes that a better use of the customs duty would be the best way to make the postal service provide better value to the taxpayer, while also fulfilling its social mission. Customs duty can be adjusted depending on the product imported, factoring in whether these products are available here, and whether they provide a beneficial impact to our community. A more targeted customs duty would also solve the aforementioned problems created by a blanket handling fee.

Furthermore, the measures were announced by Government as “in line with the UK”, when this is simply not true. Customs duty and handling fees in the UK are only applied to goods over the price of £135, including gifts. To make matters worse, until the end of the year all packages received from the EU are still exempt from any customs duty, and therefore exempt from any handling fees. This means that at least until the end of the year (depending on if and how Brexit materialises), this measure contravenes EU regulations and could be challenged by local consumers.

The party would like to note that, as has become evident from comments on social media, ill-thought out policies like these risk stigmatising an already battered sector that has no responsibility in the implementation of these measures.

We believe in helping and promoting local business in ways that are fair, effective and forward thinking, such as the Government’s BID programme, the implementation of which we believe should be expedited as a matter of urgency. We also believe that our economy would benefit more from an investment plan to future-proof our retail sector, placing emphasis on providing the tools for businesses to go digital, retrain employees, strengthen exports and work with the times instead of against them.

This is yet another example of bad policy from an uninspired, out-of-touch administration, however, we expect a swift u-turn and “clarifications” in light of the current social media backlash. This behaviour shows a Government with no ideas, vision or principles.