GIBRALTAR – A historic post-Brexit deal comes into action next week, when residents of Gibraltar will be able to stroll across into Spain and surrounding Europe without any checks or restrictions.
Long queues for the double police checkpoints where travellers have had to present passports to officials from both Spain and the British overseas territory will be gone when the land border disappears forever next Wednesday.
British citizens living on “the Rock” will officially still be subject to the post-Brexit rule that restricts Britons to staying only 90 days in every 180 in the European Union, but since there will be no land border, it is unlikely this will be enforced – meaning they will be able to travel freely across the Schengen area.
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FITNESS
Could sniffing chocolate improve your gym performance?
Dark chocolate contains magnesium, crucial for bone health (Photo: Roy Morsch/Getty Images)
Taking a sniff of a chocolate bar – particularly the dark variety – could boost your workout routine, a shocking new study suggests.
What you need to know
Photographer: Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derma
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Moment RF
Tricks the system
Smelling chocolate “tricks the system” into feeling full, according to a small study from the University of Malaya.
Psychological boost
It may also trigger a psychological shift that boosts stamina and strength for exercise.
Portrait of a mature woman exercising biceps with dumbbells at the gym – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
(Photo: Kobus Louw/Getty).
Performance boost
The smell led to people doing more leg extensions lifting weights, the study found.
Milk or dark chocolate?
Caption: Dark chocolate bar with cocoa beans, cocoa powder. Food background. Close up. (Photo by: Natasha Breen/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Photographer: REDA
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Source: Universal Images Group Editorial
After sniffing both milk and dark chocolate, 23 gym-goers under study managed more exercise.
The dark chocolate smell in particular led to less hunger and greater fullness.
LIFESTYLE
6 min read
What the scientists say
Seeing a substantial increase in repetitions without the athletes feeling like they were exerting themselves any harder is a fascinating psychobiological outcome.
Study author Dr Mohamed Nashrudin bin Naharudin said anticipating a food might have similar effects to when it is actually eaten. Although further work is needed, sniffing other appealing foods could also have an effect, his team believes.
Kettlebell strength training at cross-training gym – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
POLITICS
Why Burnham may not be able to resist calling a snap election
Andy Burnham addresses supporters ahead of his by-election victory (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images)
Such is the feel-good factor among Labour MPs about Andy Burnham’s arrival at Westminster, some have started to ask: should the PM-in-waiting prepare to call a snap general election?
Why Burnham may go for it
Some Burnham supporters say he should call an election because he will never be as popular than when he first enters No 10.
The idea has been given fresh impetus this week because of the intense pressure on Nigel Farage over his finances.
“I could see a scenario where England wins the World Cup, Farage is on his knees and Andy decides to go to the country,” said one excited MP.
POLITICS
5 min read
Why Burnham may say no
Most Labour MPs are still against the idea, fearing it could be the end of their political careers.
Some have pointed to the fact Labour is still polling in the teens to low 20s, with Reform still ahead.
Some are also pessimistic about the idea that Farage’s by-election stunt will backfire. “If he wins a by-election he will be even more popular,” said one Labour MP.
Big Read
4 min read
The expert view
Turkeys don’t generally vote for Christmas, and the prospect of an early election would be akin to that.
Chris Hopkins, a director at Savanta, said Labour would have to enjoy a significant poll bump for Burnham to even consider an early election.
However, if there is a poll bounce then “there may not be a better time”, Hopkins added. PMs tend to become less popular the longer they stay in No 10, he said.
For devolution to work, it will need to be about suburbs and rural areas as well as cities (Photo Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 22: Andy Burnham, Labour MP for Makerfield, celebrates after his swearing-in at the Houses of Parliament on June 22, 2026 in London, England. Last week Andy Burnham won 54% of the vote in the Makerfield by-election, paving his way to return to Westminster as an MP and challenger to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Photographer: Dan Kitwood
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images Europe
Copyright: 2026 Getty Images
READ THE FULL STORY
Why an unthinkable snap election is becoming an option
A wave of optimism is flooding through Labour MPs. Such is the feel-good factor on the backbenches, some have started to ask the previously unthinkable: should Burnham call a snap election?
Caption: A mobile phone in a pink case charging battery by wire. A charging smartphone with cable on a wooden bedside table on a red brick wall backround
Photographer: Marina Demeshko
Provider: Getty Images
Source: iStockphoto
TECH
Is your phone battery getting worse? This might be why
Phone batteries can feel like they are performing worse than ever, so tech experts have explained why your mobile’s charge always feels like it is dying.
What you need to know
Why it feels like your battery is always dying
Today’s smartphones use much the same kind of lithium-ion batteries as the first ones.
Efficiency has been improved. The amount of charge they can hold has doubled in two decades.
However, the energy demands our phones make on those batteries have been rising at the same pace.
“We are doing so much more with our phones,” said Prof David Howey of the University of Oxford.
Longer life – greater decline
The first “dumb phones” were often upgraded yearly, then two or three-yearly upgrades became the norm.
A phone’s battery charging capacity slowly worsens over time, so we often notice the decline in the last year of its life.
Government sources said the plan would make it easier for people to find trusted news sources online (Photo: Yui Mok/PA)
OPINION
3 min read
Give your battery a boost
Keeping up Wi-Fi connection is power hungry. So if you are somewhere remote it may be worth turning off Wi-Fi.
Letting batteries get too hot can speed up deterioration, so don’t leave your phone in the sun.
Phone batteries charging on 100 per cent start to warm up, accelerating the ageing. So don’t leave it charging with 100 per cent.
LIFESTYLE
3 min read
Since news of the deal last year, there has already been a surge of interest among Britons who want to move to sunny Gibraltar and benefit from its low taxes, Mediterranean sunshine and restriction-free travel.
The Gibraltar Government has temporarily paused new applications since last October. Paul Duck, managing director of Chestertons, the territory’s biggest estate agent, told The i Paper that “hundreds” of people had expressed an interest in buying or renting properties there. The average property purchase in 2024-25 was £587,000, according to the Gibraltar Office of Fair Trading.
Many more are now expected to move to Gibraltar and take advantage of its unique combination of British and European culture. “Don’t forget that Gibraltar is not part of England; we are a mixture of Mediterranean-British,” said Brian Reyes, editor of The Gibraltar Chronicle. “I am sure we will carry on eating fish and chips and continue with all the traditions of the Rock which make it what it is.”
The border between Spain and Gibraltar. Work began last month to remove the historic border fence, which will be taken down for good on 15 July following the agreement with the EU (Photo: Francisco J Olmo/Getty)
The Rock’s population is a diverse mix of Gibraltarians, British émigrés, Maltese, Genovese and Moroccans. Among the 40,000 residents, many religions are represented, with Christians living here alongside Jewish and Muslim people. The marina is full of superyachts, reflecting its status as a destination where high-rollers from around the world like to work and play.
Owen Smith, chairperson of the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses, says the Rock might now see the arrival of Spanish fashion brand Zara and other European companies. “Gibraltar has been insulated from many of the challenges which high streets in the UK face. It has many locally owned businesses and fewer franchise posts. It is one of the challenges to try to retain that uniqueness,” he said. “I do think there is a chance we may lose some of our British retail experience.”
Until now, Gibraltar has appeared more British than Britain, with its British bobbies, red postboxes and London black cabs – albeit with the backdrop of Spanish sunshine.
Mike Nicholls, CEO of Chesterton’s estate agents, believes Gibraltar will experience more of a European influence. “I sense we will feel a little bit more European. We will have the benefits of Europe, a low-tax economy and British traditions,” he said. “On the other hand, we have enjoyed a low crime [society]. Now the people we don’t want, the unsavoury ones, may find it easier to come in.”
The marina at Gibraltar, the tiny British overseas territory located on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula (Photo: Burak Akbulut/Getty)
Perhaps conscious of that potential risk, authorities in Gibraltar have erected new high-security fencing at the border with CCTV cameras. They have also ordered a new fleet of London black cabs and red postboxes – perhaps to safeguard its Britishness, or to please the tourists.
The dissolution of the land frontier will be the biggest change to a British Overseas Territory since Britain handed back governance of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and will end hundreds of years of border disputes between Gibraltar and Spain.
The European Union and Britain reached an agreement on the status of Gibraltar last year, ending the years of political limbo that had hung over the Rock since the Brexit vote in 2016. “This will in effect undo the damage that Brexit did to Gibraltar and that we have been able to keep at bay with these negotiations,” Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar Chief Minister, told The i Paper in an earlier interview.
The deal will ensure the 15,000 Spanish workers who make the daily commute into the Rock to work and keep the place going will face no hold-ups.
Smith warns that some local businesses are concerned about new taxes as Gibraltar moves closer to Europe. They currently pay an import duty of between 0 and 12 per cent, but under the agreement between the UK and Brussels, they must pay a standard 15 per cent transaction tax, which can be passed on to the customer. But he says tourist-focused companies will not be affected.
Legend has it that if Gibraltar’s famous Barbary macaque monkeys ever leave the Rock, then it will cease to be a British territory (Photo: Florian Gaertner/Getty)
Roland Walker – whose father opened Roy’s Fish and Chips when he moved from Kent to the Rock in 1989 – believes the deal will be good for business. “I think the agreement will bring more tourists, which will be a good thing. At the moment, our customers are mainly Brits and Americans, not Spaniards, but that may change when the border disappears,” he said.
At present, the only flights into Gibraltar come from the UK, but Visit Gibraltar, the tourist office for the Rock, said that a number of European airlines had expressed interest in launching services to the British overseas territory.
After 15 July, anyone flying into the airport or arriving or stopping off at the port will have the novel experience of having their passport checked by Gibraltarian and Spanish police.
Legend has it that if Gibraltar’s famous Barbary macaque monkeys ever leave the Rock, then it will cease to be British. However, British sovereignty was never on the table during four years of torturously slow diplomatic talks to iron out a deal.
On the other side of the border in Spain, Juan Franco, mayor of La Linea de la Concepción, has already seen a radical change since the deal was announced last year.
La Linea has long been one of Spain’s poorest towns with an unemployment rate of 29 per cent, and has been plagued by drug smuggling from Morocco. But Franco says wealthy Gibraltarians and Britons are now buying up properties in select parts of town and gentrifying areas he likened to Sotogrande – an exclusive area south of Marbella on Spain’s south coast.
New businesses are investing in the town, with restaurants opening and people visiting from Gibraltar to go shopping, see a concert or visit its cafes.
But the mayor said there was a downside. “It is pushing up prices beyond what local people can afford. It is creating a divide,” he said.