The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, is in London today to hold talks with his British counterpart, David Cameron, in their first official meeting since Rajoy took over as Spain's leader in November last year.

The Europe-wide recession is the main topic on the agenda, although Rajoy revealed earlier this week that he also intended to use the meeting to reopen negotiations about the future of Gibraltar.

He said his government's intentions during this first meeting at Downing Street was to reinitiate "constructive dialogue" on the sovereignty of the 'Rock', which would then be handed over to the Foreign Office to continue.

London, however, has made it quite clear that it has no intention of re-opening talks without the consent of the people of Gibraltar.

For his part, Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo, has already advised Spain to sort out the problem of its five million unemployed before revisting historic claims to the 'Rock'.

After a working lunch, Cameron and Rajoy are expected to visit the Crossrail works, an important infrastructure project  for the London Underground, which three Spanish companies (Ferrovial, Dragados (ACS) and FCC) are working on.

Rajoy will also meet with the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, with whom he has had a number of meetings in the past.