Theresa May has been accused of betrayal after giving way to Spain’s demands over the future of Gibraltar, a disputed British overseas territory, in the latest concession designed to keep the Brexit deal on track. With the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, threatening to veto May’s deal at Sunday’s leaders’ summit in Brussels, the British government was forced to publicly concede on Saturday that Gibraltar will not necessarily be covered by a future trade deal.

Sánchez immediately claimed that he would use the concession to force the British to open talks on joint sovereignty of Gibraltar, over which Spain has had a claim since the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.