Foreign ministers of the European Union met in Luxembourg on Monday. Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said that he was a little surprised by the tone coming out of Britain over Gibraltar and called for calm. 

The future of Gibraltar has become the first dispute of the exit talks since Britain filed the formal papers to leave the European Union. 

Boris Johnson has reiterated that the sovereignty of Gibraltar will not change without the "express support and consent" of the people who live there.

A former leader of UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative party, Michael Howard, said she would even be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as Britain did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago.

However, Spain’s foreign minister thinks the UK is losing tempers in this case. “To bring back past episodes like the Falklands is a bit out of context here. I frankly think that somebody in the United Kingdom is losing tempers and there is no reason for that."

The comments came after the European Council surprised Downing Street by saying no future agreement after Brexit between Britain and the bloc would apply to Gibraltar unless both the UK and Spain agreed.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May laughs off talk of war with Spain, saying she would negotiate instead. She expressed earlier that the UK is “steadfast” in its support for the territory. 

Spain has a longstanding territorial claim on Gibraltar, an enclave of 32,000 people on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula that was ceded to Britain in 1713.

(Source: Agencies)