Politics of Gibraltar 1955, under which Malta would be represented in the British House of Commons and be placed under the Home Office, while retaining internal self-government. This would be a similar status to France's overseas departments and to Spain's North African enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, claimed by Morocco. One of Spain's arguments in rejecting comparisons between Gibraltar and these territories is that they are part of Spain, whereas Gibraltar is a British overseas territory and not part of the UK. However, the British Foreign Office rejected the idea in 1976, along with independence, on the grounds that any further constitutional reform or
History of Gibraltar between November 1942 and August 1945, 11,119 ships travelled in 189 convoys between Gibraltar and the United States and vice versa, and between December 1942 and March 1945, 536,134 troops were transported from the United States to Gibraltar. Gibraltar was directly attacked, both overtly and covertly, on several occasions during the war. Vichy French aircraft carried out bombing attacks in 1940 after the surprise attack of their fleet by the royal navy and there were sporadic raids from Italian and German long-range aircraft, though the damage caused was not significant. Franco's position changed subtly from one of neutrality to "non-belligerence",