Spanish MEP pledges to take back Gibraltar from Britain - 'A parasite of Spain!'

The Ciudadanos party member said: "Gibraltar cannot be that parasite that leeches off southern Spain, Andalusia."

Discussing "rampant" crime in Campo de Gibraltar - part of the Andalusia region - he also alleged that "money generated from these activities is laundered in the Rock".

Allegations of "parasitism" dealt at Gibraltar was rejected by a British Select Committee on Foreign Affairs in 1999.

At the time, the report said: "The use of lurid language by the Spanish authorities to vilify Gibraltar has a long pedigree.

"Our predecessors in 1981 traced back to 1908 descriptions of Gibraltar as a 'source of contraband damaging to Spain's economy,' and the argument that Gibraltarians were 'parasitic' to 1948."

The MEP also took to social media to claim that the Rock is "a colony that must be decolonised".

In a video shared on social media by the Ciudadanos party, he said: "That territory should be handed over to Spain because this is Spain; Gibraltar is Spain."

Cañas added: "What is happening in the Strait does not only affect Andalusia and Spain; it affects Europe.

"As always, Ciudadanos turns local problems into European issues and addresses them where they deserve to be addressed."

Ciudadanos is a pro-European party founded in Catalonia in 2006.

Cañas said: "Campo de Gibraltar will become a European issue.

"And we will ensure that in the next five years, this will be an area of prosperity and hope that attracts lawful resources and expels illicit activities and organised crime from a Spanish and European zone."

Gibraltar has been a British overseas territory since 1713.