To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the eligibility of holders of Gibraltarian passports to stand as candidates for the European Parliament if they are (a) residents of Gibraltar and (b) resident in the United Kingdom. [81787]

Under the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1978, as amended, the holder of a Gibraltarian passport, as a citizen of the Commonwealth, is eligible in the same way as a United Kingdom citizen to stand as a candidate for election to the European Parliament wherever he or she is resident.