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Female Focus


The Brexit Debacle. So where does it leave us expats? by Roddy Cunningham - written 26/06/16


Deeply aggrieved, that’s where. Aggrieved that British subjects who have been in Spain more than 15 years were not allowed to vote. Aggrieved that the postal vote system failed for some of the persons who were permitted to participate. Aggrieved that our positions and homes overseas have been placed in jeopardy by UK politicians’ now-admitted lies from all sides of the political spectrum, and aggrieved that much of the work, harmony and interaction with our wonderful Spanish friends over many years has been tarnished, like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.


For 23 years Female Focus magazine has been a voice bringing you news and information every month about the Costa Blanca & Mar Menor, and about how we expats have gradually mixed, integrated, become friends and


neighbours with our Spanish hosts, and vice versa. Long gone are the days of the British being referred to as ‘girries’; we have become accepted, many of us having worked extremely hard alongside the Spanish to become an appreciated part of the local scene, and hopefully we have added to some degree to the Spanish culture along the way.


Suddenly all this progress which had been gradually achieved over 43 years has been undone in one fell swoop. Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot. Three words sum up the Brexit debacle: Almighty Cock Up. And this Almighty Cock Up leaves us expats, many of whom are elderly, concerned for our health cover, concerned for our pensions, concerned for our status living in Spain, poorer because of the fall in the value of sterling... but most of all it leaves us feeling saddened, marginalised and distanced from our wonderful Spanish brothers and sisters. None of which is of our own doing, far from it.


There is talk of a 2nd EU Referendum, indeed the online Parliamentary Petition calling for a 2nd Referendum was at one stage climbing at roughly a thousand signatures a minute. See: www.petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215. All petitions to this Government site that receive over 100,000 signatures must be considered for debate in Parliament by law, and when going to print the site had already received over 3.5 MILLION signatures. But for many expats any online petition isn’t going to be much use, or they would have registered to vote in the first place.


Instead, if you wish to make your views known, contact a British MP, perhaps from the Constituency from when you resided in the UK. The 649 MPs names are online at: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/ and you can also find out their individual email address on the same page. Alternatively contact Simon Manley the British Ambassador for Spain who is based in Madrid, asking him to forward on your communication to Her Majesty’s Government. The Consulate’s email address is: spain.consulate@fco.gov.uk.


Let’s keep hold of a faint hope that sanity will prevail. Will Parliament have the courage to refuse to accept the result (based on a pack of lies) for the good of the country? Given that Nigel Farage has admitted that he knew that the £350 million a week figure was inaccurate and should not have been used, and that Daniel Hannan has now confessed that if an independent UK negotiated a trade deal with the EU, similar to that of Norway, the UK would have still have to accept workers from other European countries, it is clear that both men seriously and deliberately misled Her Majesty’s subjects in this Referendum of key importance, meaning that many ‘leavers’ thought they were voting for one thing whilst the truth was that they were voting for something utterly different. Both Nigel Farage and Daniel Hannan should be charged with treason, with this justifying why Parliament should refuse to accept the result.


This matter isn’t over by a long mile; there’s still a lot of game play to come. But the message is clear to all us expats, don’t sit back this time and ignore it. Make your views known, firstly to insist upon a 2nd Referendum, and then if this comes to pass, to ensure your vote is properly heard.


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