British nationals including Sue Wilson pleaded with the Brexit select committee to compel the government to guarantee EU nationals’ rights in the UK to encourage EU states to reciprocate

Olive Press report by Chloe Glover –  19 January 2017

EXPATS have demanded urgent measures to stop the ‘suffering’ of Brits in Europe.

British nationals including Sue Wilson want the Brexit select committee to compel the  government to guarantee EU nationals’ rights in the UK to encourage EU states to reciprocate.

Wilson, of the Bremain in Spain group, made the joint appeal following Theresa May’s landmark Brexit speech on Tuesday.

In it, she shied away making the first move to protect the interests of British nationals living in the EU.

“I would say that something needs to be done with some urgency, because people are suffering now”, said former Oxford resident Wilson, who now lives in Alcocebre, Valencia.

“People have been suffering since 23 June because of the fear and anxiety about what is going to happen in the future.

“The biggest issues are health care and pensions so why is there a need to wait two and a half years to find out whether or not we can keep those?

“I would prefer that she (May) acted unilaterally now. I think that would encourage other countries to reciprocate.

“It will improve relationships at the start of negotiations. I cannot see any reason why the 27 countries would not reciprocate.”

In her speech, May emphasised that she wanted to ‘guarantee’ the rights of both British and EU expats but did not go as far to formally doing so by taking action on the latter.

Wilson went on to urge the Exiting the European Union Committee, headed by Labour MP Hilary Benn, to understand the worries of Brits living in Spain.

“We want to get away from the perception that the people who live in Spain are all on holiday and that they all have a good income. “Many people are really struggling financially (and) have fear and concerns about whether they will be able to afford to stay”, she said.

“Pensioners…are concerned about whether they will be able to afford healthcare if they have to pay for it—they may not be able to.

“If they were forced to return, not only would they be worse off financially and a drain on the already struggling NHS…they are also going to suffer with their health.

“It is not just a financial impact; it is an impact perhaps on their life expectancy.

“Whatever is decided, it needs to be decided soon, because those people cannot wait for two and a half years to get a resolution.”

Read the full Olive Press article here

The Local.es – 18th January 2017

The UK parliamentary select committee invited British expats to give evidence.

British nationals living in Spain and other European countries have urged UK Prime Minister Theresa May to make a speedy and “magnanimous gesture” to help secure their futures.

A group of British nationals, including Sue Wilson, from Bremain in Spain, which campaigns for the rights of British people in Spain, told a parliamentary select committee in Westminster that the UK should make the first move when it comes to the increasingly thorny issue of the rights of EU citizens in Britain and those of Brits living around Europe.

In her landmark Brexit speech on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May admitted she was reluctant to guarantee the rights of Spanish, French and other EU nationals living in the UK, until she was given similar guarantees about Brits living in Spain and France.

In other words the five million people affected – two million Brits and three million EU nationals living in the UK – are being used as a pawn in negotiations, that will only begin once the British government triggers the famous Article 50.

Sue Wilson and Christopher Chantrey, who is head of the British Community Committee of France,  told the parliament select committee, led by Labour MP Hilary Benn, that Theresa May must make the first move.

“We want something to be done immediately,” said Chantrey. “It is the UK triggering this process. It would be a magnanimous gesture and a good way to open the negotiations, by saying ‘this is what we are going to do for EU nationals in the UK’.

Sue Wilson added: “People are suffering now and people have been suffering since [the referendum on] June 23rd because of fear and anxiety about what is going to happen in the future.

“Whatever needs to be decided needs to be decided soon because these people can’t wait two and half years for the solution,” said Wilson.

“Theresa May needs to act now and that would encourage other countries to reciprocate and would improve relations at the start of negotiations,” she said.

She told the ‘Exiting the European Union Committee’ that Brits abroad were still British citizens and should be looked after as such by the British government.

Their wish was echoed by Frenchman Nicolas Hatton head of the group “3million” which campaigns for the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.

“We want the British government to make the first move, because it’s the UK which is leaving the EU and not the other way round,” said Hatton.

The select committee also heard about the real concerns and worries that have blighted Brits living in the EU since the referendum result, namely around healthcare, future pensions and the right to remain in the countries where they have made their home.

“Pensioners are already suffering from the falling exchange rates. They are worried about what will happen to their pensions and their healthcare cover,” said Valencia-based Wilson, who moved to Alcocebre with her husband a decade ago.

“We need to get away from this perception that expats in Spain are all on holiday and have a good income and good standard of living. Many people are struggling financially.

“They are concerned about whether they can stay in the country or whether they will be forced to come back to the UK.”

Wilson explained that the primary concerns for those Brits who had moved to Spain would be the impact that Brexit would have on their pensions and their right to free healthcare.

“There are quite a few working Brits in Spain (and Europe) who spend time working in the UK, also obviously pensioners who get paid in pounds, so anyone who gets paid in sterling is suffering already because of the drop in exchange rate and people are very concerned about the value of their income going down in the future,” she told the committee.

“The big concern is for people wondering whether they will have free healthcare in the future. It is very expensive to buy private healthcare in Spain, particularly for the elderly or those who have a pre-existing condition. That could make the difference to whether people are able to stay in Spain or have to return to England,” she said.

“Many people have moved to Spain particularly for their health because they suffer from rheumatism or arthritis so do better in a warmer climate…so beyond any financial considerations… returning to the UK could have an impact on their life expectancy,”

Chantrey warned the committee that there would be a significant impact on the UK if tens of thousands of British pensioners living throughout the EU were forced to return “homeless, without health cover and with diminishing pensions.”

Find out more about Bremain in Spain from  their website or follow @BremainInSpain on Twitter or join their Facebook page.

See the full article on The Local.es here

Campaigners say pensioners in countries such as Spain will have to go back to UK if they can no longer get free healthcare

Lisa O’Carroll from the Guardian reports on the House of Commons Brexit select committee where our own Sue Wilson Chair of Bremain in Spain gave evidence – Wednesday 18 January 2017

Hundreds of thousands of elderly Britons living in Europe may be forced to return to the UK unless the government guarantees that their healthcare will continue to be reimbursed by the NHS, campaigners for British people settled in Spain and France have warned.

The House of Commons Brexit select committee was told on Wednesday that an unintended consequence of Brexit could be a surge in immigration of British migrants both working and retired.

Groups campaigning for the rights of Britons settled in Europe told the committee that many pensioners in countries such as Spain and France would not be able to afford private health insurance if the current system was jettisoned post-Brexit.

“They may have no alternative but to come back,” said Sue Wilson, one of the founders of the Remain in Spain group.

The committee was also told there could be an exodus of professionals whose right to practise law, medicine or other disciplines would no longer be recognised if a deal was not done. They heard that in Italy alone 383 professions were legally recognised.

When the UK pulls out of Europe that legal entitlement falls away, said Gareth Horsfall, representing Britons in Italy. “It’s not just a right to stay; it’s also a recognition [of professional entitlements],” he said.

They were speaking a day after Theresa May declared she had sought to seal an early deal guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens in the UK and the rights of Britons in Europe. She said “many countries” had supported this, but “one or two countries” had not.

But groups that have sprung up since the referendum to represent Britons in Europe say the onus is on May to make the first move.

“If it is UK that is triggering this process, it is not 27 states. Therefore, it would be a magnanimous gesture on the part of the prime minister, and a good way of opening negotiations, to begin by saying: ‘We are doing this for EU nationals in the UK; we call on you to do the same,’” said Christopher Chantrey, a Briton living in France, who is part of the Expat Citizen Rights in EU (Ecreu) group.

Wilson, who also called for a unilateral move, said it was needed “urgently” for retired people in Spain who were already suffering a reduced pension because of the decline in the value of the pound following the referendum.

There are 108,000 British pensioners in Spain out of an official British population there of around 300,000.

Retired Britons in receipt of a British pension and their dependents can access medical treatment for free, or near free, in countries such as Spain, France and Germany, with the cost reimbursed by the UK government. Some workers posted overseas can also avail themselves of the “S1” benefit.

“We have got to get away from this perception that they are all there having a good time. Many moved to Spain in the first place because it was cheaper to live there, because it was cheaper to buy a property,” Wilson told the committee.

“These people can’t wait for two and a half years to get a resolution” on Brexit talks, she said. Particularly vulnerable were people who had retired to the warmer climate for health reasons.

“Many of those people, if they were forced to return, not only would they be worse off financially and be a drain on the NHS and perhaps the housing market, they are also going to suffer with their health, so it’s not just a financial impact, it’s an impact perhaps with their life expectancy,” she said.

“A big concern is people wondering if they have free healthcare in future, particularly if you are elderly. If your only alternative was private, for most that would be the difference between staying in Spain and leaving,” she said.

Debbie Williams, who was giving evidence about Britons in Belgium, said the healthcare support provided by the Treasury could be “a dealbreaker for some people”.

If it wasn’t continued, she said, “there could be hundreds of thousands of people returning because of the healthcare issue”.

Earlier the committee heard from representatives of EU citizens in the UK including communities from eastern Europe.

It was told it was a myth that Polish people, Romanians and others came to sponge off the welfare system.

“It is virtually impossible to claim an abundance of welfare payments even if you are, say, in the terminal stages of cancer,” said Barbara Drozdowicz, chief executive of the East European Resource Centre.

She said the attraction of Britain was the ease with which people could set up businesses and be entrepreneurs, something that was not easy in former eastern bloc countries.

“Brexit came as a shock because people now have to question the future of their business. Welfare is not what people talk about, it is what will they do about their small plumbing practice,” she said.

In the only tense exchange with EU citizens, the Tory MP Peter Lilley described it as “absolutely extraordinary” that none of the witnesses were lobbying their “own governments” for their rights post-Brexit.

“The British government is our government,” retorted Nicolas Hatton, a French citizen and founder of the3million campaign group.

See the full Guardian article here

“Our members are real people with real concerns” 

The following selection of statements express, in their own words, their various concerns and anxieties regarding Brexit and the uncertainty now affecting their daily lives.

As pensioners living in Spain, we will be forced to return to UK if our healthcare is not funded and we will suffer and cost UK more if we live in UK.

Losing my European citizenship and free movement of goods between UK and my home in Spain will severely impact on my quality of life.

My partner teaches in an international school. This is almost totally dependent on being able to recruit staff from the UK and may be unable to do so should there no longer be the same rights in terms of residing, working, pensions and healthcare that currently exist. Therefore, the future of the school and, hence, his livelihood are at grave risk.

Imagine all those indignant (and perhaps a trifle potty) elderly British ex-pats being herded back to the UK. Where will you put us all?

I am terrified at the prospect that I may be trapped in a country from which I can no longer afford to emigrate to warmer climes for my remaining years.

Denying young British people the ability to study, work and live in other EU countries is narrowing their opportunities and their minds.

Healthcare for UK pensioners resident in Spain is the biggest concern, resulting in even longer waiting times in UK hospitals when we have to go back for operations.

I have close family both in England and mainland EU. I want to retain the right to live and work wherever they might be including the privileges, medical care, etc., that my all-inclusive Brit/EU passport affords me.

I have lived and worked here for 14 years – it’s my life and home – and to change rules retrospectively seems grossly unfair and against human rights under European Charter for myself and thousands of others.

Our saved-for and planned-for retirement is in tatter, meaning that a health condition much improved by a better climate will get worse.

I have recently moved to Spain to live. Concerns on healthcare, exchange rates, will we be able to stay in Spain?

I took advantage of the freedom of movement that was offered to me as an EU citizen and I do not want this right to be taken from me after living in Spain for almost 34 years.

Brexit will turn my world upside down, take away my independence, my quality of life, peace of mind, serenity and cause untold anxiety if I am forced to return to live in the UK against my will.

I am concerned that my Will may be administered under Spanish succession laws and that the UK will not agree to fund my health coverage as it currently does.

Married to a Spanish citizen, living now near Barcelona, my main concern is exchange rates since all my pension income is paid in sterling.

My concerns are not for personal issues. I feel European first and Welsh next. I believe we are stronger together. Together we stand, divided we fall.

I’m an immigrant in Spain, and never have heard racist superiority threats against me such as were said in the campaign. I want the UK in the EU so as to be a respecting nation with broad horizons, not a sad closed-doors island.

When I moved to Spain in 2009, my future was certain as I had clear residency and full healthcare. Now that certainty has been taken away from me and I fear for the future.

EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU made life-changing decisions, have homes and children in their new countries, have switched to using new languages, and consider ourselves as residents of our new home countries. To remove that is unconstitutional.

I am an EU citizen with a British passport. I have spent 12 years building my life in Spain, literally building with my hands. Against my will, I will be forced to move to the UK by people who fear foreigners and would rather believe conspiracy theories than find out the truth about the EU.

Losing the reciprocal support of Spain if that support is removed from our Spanish friends living in the UK.

We are being disenfranchised without the right to vote on something that will impinge on my rights as a European living in Spain for 30 years.

The denial of opportunities (travel, study, work, friendships, relationships) for us all but especially for our young people – who are our future – breaks my heart.

We are pensioners living in Spain to support a sick daughter and bring up two grandchildren. If we lose our right to healthcare, we don’t know what will become of us all. We can’t go back to UK. Our whole lives are here and we don’t want to start all over again in our 70s!

Companies in Spain are starting to reject applications from British Nationals as they don’t want to get involved in work permits! How does that help me, should I need to get a new job?

On behalf of my father:

I am 93 years of age, and have lived in Spain for the past 15 years. At my time of life, who has the right to say I may lose my right to remain here, my annual pension increments and my access to (UK funded) free healthcare.

I have arthritis but have been much better since moving to Spain nine years ago. Without healthcare, I will have to return to the UK. I will not be able to afford a house. What will happen to me?

Freedom of movement, cultural heritage, a healthier old age … it’s heart-breaking to realise how much we stand to lose.

We have close family in France and in the UK. We are the guardians of a nine-year-old grandchild who has lived almost her whole life in Spain with us. Loss of free movement and its implications for her in particular are very worrying.

Desperately worried for my children in Spanish education system, my businesses, my employees (all UK citizens), home, healthcare and all our future plans now uncertain and under threat through no cause of our own.

Hardship caused to our relatives who used to visit fairly often. Visas, etc.?

There is a serious risk of my family ending up homeless in the UK, if we are forced to return and housing help will not be available because of ownership of foreign property that will be very hard to sell but we will not be allowed to inhabit.

Our lives have been put on hold without us having any say in it. Many people did not receive their voting papers in time, and many had no right to vote. How can this be right? We have a business here and the uncertainty and stress is making me ill.

Concerned about our healthcare in Spain, passports, and also those of our pets.

European citizenship affords people with certain rights and protections, as well as access to EU-wide benefits and institutions of importance and all this offers for future generations.

Very worried re health care rights, frozen pensions, EU Citizenship, property rights, tax rights, voting rights in the future.

We run a business in Spain and order many components from a UK company, which we won’t be able to do once UK leaves EU.

Our house in Spain is up for sale, can we be confident enough to buy another here after Brexit.

I am British, my father was Finnish, my mother’s family were Jewish immigrants from Poland, my partner is Scottish, my children were born in Spain. I’ve been living and working in Barcelona as a researcher for 12 years mainly on European Commission gender equality projects. To stay we will have to apply for Spanish citizenship and if we have to renounce our British citizenship my children’s choice of living in the UK will be curtailed. What will happen if I have to go back to the UK to look after sick or elderly relatives? These are just a couple of my concerns…

I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of living in Spain and travelling to and fro to the UK unhindered. I am happy to be a European and don’t want anything to change. Peace and harmony within Europe is so important.

My husband and I moved to Catalonia in December 2016 to now live our dream of 40 years. We are 70 and 75… we are now terrified of what our dream is going to turn into. 

I care about the free trade agreement. Without it my business will suffer, as it already has.

My husband and I both worked full time for over 45 years and paid full tax and NI contributions in UK, ran a business, employed staff and paid all required contributions. Why should UK pensioners abroad be penalised and discriminated against after making these contributions to our country?

I can’t afford to go back to the UK but will I be able to stay in Spain where I study and practise something that is impossible in the UK well at the standard and depth I’m am at – i.e. flamenco.

Post Brexit, pensions with annual increases and healthcare are the major concerns to my wife and I, having been retired residents in Spain for 14 very happy years.

My Italian boyfriend and I will no longer have the automatic right to live and work in each other’s home country.

Caught in no man’s land, only been on Lanzarote in our own property a year!

Scared that I may be forced to “go back” to a country where I know no one and leave everything I do know behind.

We live in Spain and the climate and the healthcare enable my husband to live fairly normally even thorough he has severe Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Deprived of the right to vote in the Referendum, which affects my future directly, my main worry is the fall in the Pound and threat to the value of my pension, when I finally get it. (I was born in 1956 I am already being made to wait longer than expected to start receiving it.)

My son and I have lived in Spain for the last 10 years. He went back to the UK for Christmas. He was totally and utterly picked on! For living in Spain!!

Worried re my financial position. Large taxes paid into UK. Nothing asked for nor received nor wanted in return. What happens to my taxes if my pensions are frozen?

The dog pet passport scheme is supervised by Defra and gives freedom of moment in Europe. Would the UK go back to the quarantine method? Lots of animal charities move abandoned or ill-treated animals back to the UK.

Terrible for all the charities working to rehome animals through Europe. I foster for one and have a dog. He travels with us: we could not leave him in quarantine or kennels.

I have lived for 35 years in Barcelona, Spain and my daughter was born here, hence she is Spanish, so if Brexit goes ahead, our family will be divided.

My grandchildren are Spanish – must I and my son leave them behind?

I have just renewed my passport so on the front it says European Union. So do we all have to replace the passports?

With the drop in property prices here, there’s no chance of buying in the UK if we come out.

After 20 years in Spain, my son and I feel like holocaust victims who have had their vote denied, our accrued European rights threatened, savings and pension values diminished through exchange rate fall and, ultimately, stand to lose our homes and business in Spain and our winter work as ski teachers in the Alps in France and Switzerland.

Uncertainty… my husband is a Spanish national and we have lived together in Spain for 10 years. Before that, we lived for 20 years in the UK. Will it be possible for us ever to return to the UK to be with family?

I worry that my two sons, who attend a Spanish school and are bilingual, would be picked on in the UK for speaking Spanish to each other.

I have free health care as an early retiree from the Valencian government. One of the conditions is that I am a national of an EU country. After Brexit, I won’t qualify?

As an OAP with ongoing medical conditions and awaiting two operations, if we lose free healthcare I’ll just have to die!

We have lived in Spain for 10 years, we own our house here, our son has gone through the local school system and my wife and I have both paid 10 years’ worth of tax and social security into the Spanish system. While we don’t think we will be thrown out of the country after Brexit, we still have no idea of what we can actually expect to happen.

After 25 years as an employee and taxpayer in Spain, and now retired, will I lose my Spanish pension as it’s dependent on years accrued as an EU citizen?

I’ve lived and worked in Spain for more than 15 years, based on EU agreements, yet was denied the right to vote in a Referendum which would strip me and my children of those rights. What is the direction for them? They are not British by upbringing nor Spanish by birth. They are teenagers who have been here all their lives who are now facing restrictions because of Brexit.

My concern is that our healthcare benefits will be taken from us. As my husband is over 70 and has diabetes, he cannot get private health insurance.

I am 67 with no pension and little money – I can’t afford to lose my medical coverage and can’t afford to move anywhere else, much less back to the UK.

As a Brit married to a Frenchman and living in France, my right to stay feels threatened and I feel forced to acquire French nationality when this should be an active choice. Furthermore, many Brits in France do not even have this right/choice and are thus even more vulnerable thanks to the removal of our rights that will result from Brexit.

My children were brought up in Spain, hold British passports and now live in UK. I have a business and home in Spain and am worried about free movement and ‘residencia’ rights after Brexit. What will it mean for my family? I also worry about pension and healthcare rights for British citizens.

My husband (a German national) lived and worked in England for 55 years, is in receipt of an English state pension, has two English sisters, our daughters are English, although one lives in France with two English daughters, feels that he will no longer be welcome in England to see his family and friends and if we needed to go back to live what would his status be?

We are living our dream retirement in Spain. Brexit threatens our financial security. Having to buy health insurance would leave us with no choice but to return to the UK.

It would be far more cost-effective for all of us to be able to stay where we are, including the EU citizens in Britain.

I run a business here in Spain and am worried of the impact it could have as I involuntarily become a non-EU member.

If pensioners have to return to UK, will the UK pay for relocation and will accommodation and all benefits be available immediately?

I worked from 14 to 60 and paid tax and NI all my life. I retired to Spain 12 years and now, as a 74 years old widow, live off a basic UK pension. Surely I have earned the right to have a say? What will happen to me should my health deteriorate?