An email arrives from an old friend who lives in Malaga, Spain. the temperature, even in winter, hovers around 17c which is not quite going-to-the beach level, but warm enough. He has been in Spain for over a decade now, first working and now retired. A few years ago, he took out Spanish residency. He’s bloody glad that he did.
There are hundreds of thousands of mainly retired Brits on the Costas. Many have gone there to escape the misery of the British winter, with its incessant battleship grey skies. Yes, they do miss their families, particularly watching their grandchildren growing up, but they it’s rarely cold. All that arthritis doesn’t feel quite so bad as it does at home. You might not see the people you love so often, but hey, booze and fags are much cheaper.
Most Brits in Spain voted to remain in the EU, but a good few voted to leave. The arguments are broadly similar to the ones we see at home. Too many migrants taking our jobs, putting pressure on the NHS; that sort of thing. They were pleased that freedom of movement was coming to an end until they began to realise that freedom of movement was a two-way street.
The argument in the UK has been framed to suggest that migrants are all foreign people, to the extent that Brits moving abroad are not migrants at all. They are ex-pats. The penny is beginning to drop.
Some think, blindly, that they will be all right, Jack. That the British government, which says quite clearly that the end of free movement is one of its red lines, will ensure their lives won’t change at all. The British government does not give a toss for ex pats/Brits abroad/migrants one little bit. The end of free movement means what it says on the tin. It’s not just them, it’s you.
It must be awful for people who have bought properties in other EU countries, often spending their life savings, selling up at home or even taking out an additional mortgage. They must have an apocalyptic view of how this ends. They might lose everything.
Of course, I am and always have been a pro Europe person. Although, I have not been able to utilise the gift of free movement, I celebrated the fact that my children might. I hear friends talking about retiring abroad and I feel for them now that their dream is coming to an end. This, according to my friend in Malaga, is exactly how many ‘ex-pats’ are feeling.
I have heard enough stories from Brits living abroad complaining about migration ‘at home’ for me to believe they are true. But now the crackdown on migration affects ‘our own’ and people are worried.
I am not sure that the sheer insanity of Brexit can now be stopped. We are entering an era in which ex-pats will become migrants and the rights they once had will disappear. My friends who dream of retiring to Benalmadena, Torrevieja or anywhere else in Spain will now need to think again. That’s unless we as a country think again. I rather think it’s all too late.
