Expat community in Spain prepare for life “Beyond Brexit”

World Today

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Now to the latest in our series of reports looking at the impact of Brexit the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. For hundreds of thousands of ex-pat Brits working in the EU, the decision has created uncertainty and concern.

CCTV’s Dan Williams reports. Follow Dan Williams on Twitter @Danielclearcut

Spain is home to thousands of British expats. But that could all change after the Brexit vote. At the local bowling club, the referendum’s result has left many here anxious.

“Obviously, we are all worried about it. We have just got our pensions. The first one since the Brexit and it is around 70 euros less than what it was before,” Norman Vickers, British Ex-pat Living in Spain said.

Leonard Pilling, also a British expat living in Spain, costing the Valencia health service thousands a year in drugs alone, expressed the concern about whether healthcare will be unaffordable.

Their concerns are shared by business owners in the area.

More than 280,000 U.K. citizens live in Spain. In some Costa Blanca communities, British expats outnumber the Spaniards. So Brexit has been the big story for the local English newspaper, Costa Blanca News.

Although some of the initial panic over Brexit has subsided, the uncertainty for many British expats remains. And at the back of many people’s minds is the possibility that for one reason or another, they’ll be forced to give up on the Spanish dream.

For decades, thousands of Brits this stretch of Spanish coastline is home.

The question is or how much longer?