Expats are the 'forgotten ones'
CBNews accompanies BBC on interviews wth local Britons
BRITISH people living in the European Union say they are becoming 'more and more worried' about how their lives will be affected by Brexit next year after becoming the 'forgotten ones'.
Uncertainty and a lack of information has affected their lives, they said, with no clear indication of what will happen after March 29 next year, when Britain leaves the other 27 members of the bloc.
Costa Blanca residents told the BBC this week that despite the ‘working agreement’ agreed between the UK and EU members before Christmas including an outline of future ‘citizens’ rights’ there was growing 'mistrust'.
It was the third programme made by BBC East and its journalist Andrew Sinclair for the Sunday Politics show; the first was ahead of the 2016 referendum and the second a year after the historic vote.
He travelled to Benitachell to meet campaigner Margaret Hales MBE, her husband Gerald, Teresa and Kim Sawdy, Anne and Mick Gripton, and Lizzie and Steve Clayton.
Andrew explained “The regional BBC has been keeping tabs on the EU community back in Britain and British citizens over here; we feel it is a story worth tell- ing from time to time, reminding people you still exist.
“Opinion is divided – some people are terrified, others seem to think life will continue as normal... and as far as I can tell, one year on nothing has really changed, to be honest”.
His guests agreed it was unlikely they would be 'turned out' of Spain but underlined concerns about pensions, health care, education, voting and representation - and the freedom for families to move within Europe to follow careers as the majority of expats were not retired.
And they agreed the infamous ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’ created more uncertainty; especially if Britain left the bloc without a deal.
WORRIED
Mick said “We are getting more and more worried, we are told nothing”; his wife Anne agreed, adding “We know nothing more than at the referendum”.
Lizzie added “We do hear a lot about people who live in the UK but not about us... nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and it looks as if nothing will be agreed”.
Margaret, who is the Spanish representative for European citizen rights’ group ECREU said “The ‘no deal’ scenario is inconceivable; there’s been no ring-fencing of our rights; the working agreement is no more than a working agreement.
“We have a very real fear that if there is a no deal, consequently we will have no rights – we cannot continue living here as pensioners if we have no pensions and no health care paid for”.
Gerald said “The Rees-Moggs of this world just want ‘Fortress Britain’. There is nothing to stop the British government on March 30 next year simply abandoning everything.”
Early retiree Teresa said the uncertainty did cause people to wonder what would happen. “I wonder whether I will ever get a pension, I worked for years and years for it.”
The group agreed with less than a year before Brexit they did not know what would change – Anne said “We don’t know what will be taken away” and Gerald added “We also don’t know what things to take precautions for and what will be all right”.
And Margaret continued “People say it will be all right, but that’s what they said about the Windrush families.
“There is a feeling of mistrust... you can understand why some people cover their ears or bury their heads in the sand”.
MISTRUST
However, everyone agreed the ‘leave’ result of the referendum could not be reversed or that Brexit could be stopped; Anne described it as being 'too far down the road'.
She continued “I thought from the beginning that this decision was too important to leave to the British public... just look at the X-Factor.”
Teresa said “People voted in the ref- erendum and next day Googled to find out what they had actually voted for.”
Everyone agreed Spain – along with France and Germany – had been very welcoming to British people wanting to make a new life abroad but without a deal, they would be 'at the mercy' of their host country.
Lizzie complained “There is no openness and transparency or flow of information from our own country... we don’t even get waffle”.
Gerald said “I don’t even think our government thinks about us, it is all about trade and the value of sterling”.
Margaret said she had spoken with expats across the 27 countries, "We are the forgotten ones because we are not there in people’s faces in the UK.
“David Davis (the Brexit Secretary) has never met with any representative groups of British citizens living in the EU – that is an incredible snub to the 1.2 million or more of us who actually live in the UK”. Turn to page 22 for our interview with Andrew Sinclair