Pay attention to Gibraltar and you'll see all your stereotypes about Brexiteers and Remainers destroyed

Many of us take for granted the polarised identities of Remainer and Leaver that have been splashed across front pages over the last few years. Politicians and the media alike have rushed to brand individuals and communities as one thing or the other. “Nationalism” has become a dirty word defining Brexiteers and the word “liberal”, particularly in combination with “elite”, is invariably pinned to the head of every Remainer in the UK.

Commentators have not been falling head-over-heels to point out the case of somewhere as far back in the minds of most of the British population as Gibraltar. But my memories of visiting my grandparents on the Rock as a child and my grandmother’s tales of sneaking across the border to Spain with her friends as she grew up have stuck the problem of Gibraltar’s identity firmly in my mind.

Just as the Rock sticks out geographically like sore thumb on the southernmost tip of Spain, so does its identity in the Brexit debate. Politicians have made Play-Doh of our identities, leaping at the chance to mould them into basic caricatures, with little regard to the simplicity of their efforts. Identity politics have been tied to our political outlook in knots that are close to being impossible to untangle.

Usually discussing British politics with my Gibraltarian grandmother would only end in awkward silences and half-acknowledged disagreements. However, in the days after the referendum we were ready to pour out our shared shock to each other about the result in close to tearful conversations.

It was through our mutual grief that I began to realise just how firmly reductive assumptions about conservatism, age and our perspective on the EU had been stuck to each side of the Brexit debate. Gibraltarian lives – and the stakes for Gibraltar of a blind Brexit – demonstrate the value of a strong British relationship with Europe, as well as what stands to be lost if Brexit is badly mishandled.

When Gibraltar’s vote count came through and kicked off the night of the EU referendum results with a flying 96 per cent of the vote to Remain, I felt naively at ease. My memories of flying in to the Rock, with my grandfather picking us up and driving us smoothly across the border to Spain, could be easily painted as a rosy picture of an open Europe, where the EU is embraced because of the close ties we crave with its countries.

Even in a place which The Sun had claimed as its own with its famous “Hands Off Our Rock” campaign, it is easy to paint a picture that saw progressive values prevailing and the safety of a globalised future for young British people.

Yet while 96 per cent seems unimaginably decisive for most observers, it is not Gibraltar’s most conclusive referendum result. In 2002, the population of Gibraltar was offered the chance to vote on whether its sovereignty should be shared with Spain, resulting in 98.5 per cent of the population emphatically declaring themselves proudly British, with an unshakeable intention to remain so.

When I think of my grandmother growing up on the closest fringes of General Franco’s Spain, it is not hard to understand why a defence of the United Kingdom as a protector of freedom, democracy and personal liberty against even our closest neighbours might prevail and contribute to a pride in our nation across the Rock.

Murky waters have sullied understandings of nationalism and pride, giving the impression that they are incompatible with an open and accepting view towards the EU. But this is not always the case.

Nationalism, however much it thrives in a place like Gibraltar, is mixed with what might be the most thorough understanding of the practical benefits of our union with Europe of anywhere in the United Kingdom. Economic and social exchange with Spain is crucial to Gibraltar’s survival, and it welcomes the millions of tourists who drive across the border, sharing the road with a workforce that flows across from Spain. Nobody wants to see the closed border that Franco put in place in 1969 return to block these benefits.

As a young person and a pro-European, I see identity politics used a stick with which to beat me and my political allies. The image of the liberal progressive Remainer dominates university activism, and the labels of the metropolitan liberal elite or the "white-van man" have never been so divisively used as since the vote of 2016. There is an urgent need to prevent these images of identity – whether embraced or apologetically accepted – from dominating the way politics is done.

The lesson we should learn from Gibraltarians is that the patriotic pride in our country does not only coexist with, but is dependent on, our continuing partnership with our closest neighbours. Our relationship with the EU provides fertile ground for the protection and blossoming of the rights to live, work and love across 27 other countries. But the EU is also there as a dependable partner in a world that is running steadily towards ever further globalisation, where partnerships offer practical and everyday benefits.

Phoebe Potter directs Our Future, Our Choice’s national grassroots organising campaign. She is of Gibraltarian descent