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divdiv class=story-body readability=41 span class=story-date#13; span class=date19 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time15:48 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1UK Foreign Office officials have met the Spanish ambassador to raise serious concerns about a Spanish ship off Gibraltar./p#13; pThe Royal Navy challenged a Spanish state vessel, the RV Romon Margalef, after it had conducted more than 20 hours of surveying./p#13; pThe Foreign Office said the ship's presence on Monday and Tuesday had been a significant incursion./p#13; pAt the meeting it also highlighted unacceptable border delays./p#13; pThe Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Spanish vessel had come within 250 metres of the entrance to Gibraltar Harbour and had been close to other ships at anchor./p#13; pThe move prompted the Royal Navy's Gibraltar Squadron's fast patrol boats HMS Sabre and HMS Scimitar to challenge the RV Ramon Margalef's presence./p#13; pThe MoD said no-one was injured and no equipment or vessel was damaged./p#13; span class=cross-head'Provocative'/span#13; pMatthew Rycroft, the acting permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, met the Spanish ambassador to the UK, H E Federico Trillo, on Tuesday to discuss the incident./p#13; pIt is the third time the Spanish ambassador has been publicly summoned over the conduct of Spain towards Gibraltar since Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government took office in December 2011./p#13; pDuring the meeting, Mr Rycroft also raised the border delays which the Foreign Office said continue to affect Gibraltarians and tourists, as well as large numbers of Spanish commuters benefiting from employment in Gibraltar, on a near-daily basis. /p#13; pOn Tuesday evening the Royal Gibraltar Police warned of lengthy queues at the border./p#13; pThe police a href=https://twitter.com/RGPolicesaid on Twitter/a: At present we have 6 lanes of traffic with the tail end of traffic reaching the South Barrier. EQT of 2 hrs/p#13; pDavid Lidington, the UK's Minister for Europe, has told MPs that the UK has made repeated diplomatic protests over incursions in recent months. /p#13; div class=story-feature narrow#13; a class=hidden href=#story_continues_2Continue reading the main story/a h2 class=quote“spanStart Quote/span/h2#13;blockquote readability=2p class=first-childWe stand ready to do whatever is required to protect Gibraltar's sovereignty, economy and security”/p/blockquote#13;span class=endquoteEnd Quote/span#13; span class=quote-creditDavid Lidington/span#13; span class=quote-credit-titleUK's Minister for Europe/span#13;#13; /div p id=story_continues_2He said: This comes only two weeks after dangerous manoeuvres by a Spanish Guardia Civil vessel in the vicinity of Royal Navy vessels in British waters put lives at risk and resulted in a minor collision. /p#13; pAccording to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the waters around Gibraltar are indisputably British territorial waters./p#13; pHowever, Spain disputes UK sovereignty over Gibraltar, a limestone outcrop known as the Rock near the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, which has been ruled by Britain since 1713./p#13; pSpain imposed additional strict controls at the border with the British territory after a row broke out in July over the creation by Gibraltar of an artificial reef in disputed waters./p#13; span class=cross-head'Politically motivated'/span#13; pThe minister said Spain had increased unlawful incursions by its state vessels into UK territorial waters from around five per month to around 40 per month. He said he urged the Spanish government to ensure the incident was not repeated. /p#13; pWe stand ready to do whatever is required to protect Gibraltar's sovereignty, economy and security, Mr Lidington said./p#13; pWe believe that it is in the interests of Spain, Gibraltar and Britain to avoid incidents such as this that damage the prospects for establishing dialogue and co-operation./p#13; pLabour's shadow Europe minister Gareth Thomas said any ship entering British waters around Gibraltar would be provocative and unlawful. /p#13; pLast week the European Commission ruled checks by Spain at its border with Gibraltar did not break EU laws. /p#13; pThe commission's ruling followed a UK complaint and it has also written to the UK and Spain with recommendations to avoid future delays at the border. But the UK still says the politically motivated checks were unlawful./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center