Brit Expats Urged To Join Anti-Brexit Protests In Malaga And Gibraltar

For many expat Brits, Johnson’s political manoeuvering resulting in the closure of the British parliament for five weeks in the run-up to October 31 was a step too far.

Should a no-deal Brexit happen as planned by Britain’s most unpopular PM ever, the effect on the UK itself is expected to be devastating, but the effect on British expats who chose new lives for themselves via a move to a European Union member state will be far worse. For retirees who fled inflation and Britain’s dismal weather for an affordable quality of life in the sun as well as those who emigrated to start new small businesses overseas, everything they’d hoped, planned and worked hard to achieve will be lost, leaving thousands with no option but to return to a miserable life in the UK.

Many who’d lived and worked overseas long-term were banned from voting in the 2016 referendum as a result, with others unable to get a postal or proxy vote. During the past three years, information given to UK expats has been sparse, leading to a general feeling of anger and resentment that their rights and freedoms as EU citizens are being snatched by a government in chaos led by a man it seems no-one, not even his brother, trusts or respects. In desperation, anti-Brexit demonstrations are now being planned in Gibraltar and the Spanish city of Malaga.

The Gibraltar protest on October 19 is being organised by the Socio-Cultural Association of Spanish Workers in Gibraltar, (ASCTEG) a non-profit group supporting jobless Spaniards, with British expats urged to join in and register their feelings. According to spokesman Juan Jose Uceda, everyone is terrified over Brexit, fearing job losses, an end to free healthcare and freedom of movement as well as devastation for small businesses. Quoting the Yellowhammer report, he stressed Gibraltar is, even now, totally unprepared for a no-deal exit. The Malaga protest will take place in the city’s Plaza de la Constitucion on 22 September, with the organisers urging British expats to turn up and fight for their rights by making their voices heard.