Will a Labour government reverse Brexit rules for Brits in Spain?
After the UK election victory for the Labour party, what happens next for British people in Spain and the EU?
Keir Starmer’s Labour have won the expected decisive victory in the UK general election, pushing out the Conservatives after a 14-year reign in government during which they presided over possibly the most influential single decision affecting Great Britain and Brits around the world for the last 80 years – Brexit.
Since Britain left the European Union, there have been additional difficulties for importers and exporters trading goods between the UK and the European Union, as well as extra checks on Brits entering and leaving the EU’s Schengen Area, who can no longer use the ‘EU citizens’ line when passing through border control and who are limited to spending just 90 days in every 180-day period in the EU.
Also following Brexit, British citizens will be included in the new travel regulations being placed on non-EU citizens travel around Europe, including the need to purchase a €7 visa waiver to get into Spain, a rule which will be coming into force as soon as next year.
While it was the Tories who “got Brexit done” and Sir Kier Starmer who said after his win, “Change begins now”, the current Labour lot who have just got in have not shown any indication that they will tackle such Brexit issues which make life and relations between the UK and Europe more complex.
Neither a campaign to Rejoin the EU nor any mention of joining a post-Brexit customs union was featured in the Labour manifesto. Admittedly, they were trying to play it safe during the election campaign, trying not to upset any potential voters and threaten their convincing lead.
But even so, there is a feeling that this latest Labour government will present more centrist policies, and so unlikely to bring in any sweeping reversals to the effects of Brexit for British citizens who live in, travel to or own property in Europe.
And perhaps it was not so important to these voters anyway. Voter turnout among Brits abroad was minimal – just 7% of Britons abroad who were eligible to vote registered to do so, despite a recent overhaul of the voting rules to allow those Brits living overseas for more than 15 years to vote in general elections.
The other British community near Spain also greatly affected by Brexit and the general election result is Gibraltar, the British Oversea Territory that shares a land border with southern Spain.
Protracted negotiations are still underway, following the implementation of Brexit back in 2019, to finalise the special relationship that Gibraltar may have with the EU, if any, including over who will control border security between Gibraltar and Spain and what trade and free movement of people will look like across that border.
All eyes will be on who becomes the new Foreign Secretary, who is to take up those negotiations.
Image: @Keir Starmer/Twitter
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