Mediterranean twilight casts light on the rugged mountains of the Sierra de los Filabres as temperatures drop enough for Spaniards to venture outside. But about 70 Brits had already gathered for an hour of quiz night at a roadside bar. “Under what name is British singer Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie better known?” The quiz host asks:
The contestants, with their riotous mix of dark tans and bleached blonde hair, helped give the semi-desert town of Arboleas a strange distinction. This is the most British municipality in Spain. 53% of residents are British, the highest proportion in the UK. Changes to UK election law will allow a record number of voters to vote in the July 4 general election. There is also a lot of hostility toward the Conservative Party.
“They will get what they deserve,” says Paul Baker, 65. “I was kicked out.” A member of the Conservative Party for most of his adult life, he resigned around the time the Conservative Party elected Boris Johnson as leader. He laments the “dire” state of the British economy through his software company, whose clients include restaurants struggling with staff shortages, inflated costs and insufficient demand.
Baker, who has transformed Hertfordshire into a parched rock landscape 30 miles from year-round sunshine and beaches, is more concerned with another issue: “Rejoin.” He said: Unfortunately, none of the major political parties are committed to canceling Brexit and returning to the EU. “I actually sent an email to Keir Starmer’s office saying, ‘Why on earth doesn’t it include rejoining, or at least rejoining the customs union?’” he says. “If Labor did that I would be forced to vote Labor.”
There are 2,300 Britons in Arboleas, almost 300,000 in Spain and millions more outside the UK. Previous law amendments this year Repealing rules that strip people who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from voting has the potential to triple their impact on elections. The government estimates the changes will increase the pool of potential overseas voters from 1 million to about 3.3 million, but historically less than a fifth of those eligible have completed the registration.
Labor opposed the reforms, arguing they were creating loopholes that would continue to funnel money into Conservative coffers for “tax haven billionaires”. It has long been assumed that people with the resources to immigrate will lean more to the right than to the left. The government argued that the law must be changed to ensure fairness. But anger over Brexit once turned Conservatives against the party.
The consequences of leaving the EU may still seem distant to some back home. But in Arboleas, a cluster of cream-colored villas and lemon groves in the Almeria region, the British live with real influence every day.
Bugbears include the need to obtain a Spanish driving license, a ban on importing UK prescription glasses, and tariffs on everything else.
“Brexit is an absolute disaster. “It really is.” says Cliff Chilton, 74, a retired electrical contractor. When he ordered a £20 book from England, Spanish authorities demanded a £40 customs duty for publication. In response, he stopped shopping on Amazon.co.uk. “It’s easier to buy things from Chinese websites.”
Over a drink in a New Trinidad bar, where a pint costs €3 and the walls are decorated with photos of World Cup winner Bobby Moore, Chilton said he has been a conservative all his life but is undecided about how he will vote this time. Rishi Sunak is “very bright”, he says. But his early exit from the D-Day commemorations showed he “lacked a backbone”.
The most dramatic impact of Brexit on Spain has been the way it has pushed back Britons who had been living illegally without registering as residents, taking advantage of the difficulty of tracking them due to their unstamped EU passports. British visitors who are not EU citizens can now only stay for 90 days out of 180, so those in the shadows will be forced to leave or obtain a visa, which is not easy.
To gain permanent residency as a retiree, Britons must demonstrate they have approximately €28,000 in funds for up to five years. “They tell you to keep your money in the bank,” says Andrea Hollings, director of Dream Homes estate agents in Arboleas. “And then the next year they say, ‘I don’t have it anymore.’ I decorated the kitchen.’ So go home.”
Costa del Sol lawyer Michael Davies has had clients crying over Brexit. He said the biggest injustice of the referendum was that people who had left the UK for more than 15 years were disenfranchised. “Probably 80 to 90 per cent of them voted against Brexit. Now we can vote again, but it’s too late.”
Brits at Arboleas love its rustic charm and affordable prices. A three-bedroom house with a pool costs €250,000, while the same property by the sea costs twice as much.
The Spanish sun cemented the feeling that the mother country offered a raw deal. Craig Baddeley, 51, a military veteran who now runs a swimming pool cleaning business, said the two-party duopoly had failed people. Given the choice between Sunak and Starmer, he wants neither. Nigel Farage’s return to Reform UK “is something that needs to be looked into more deeply”, he says. “I really want to invest my money in outside opportunities. Because things can change. But now I’m old enough to know that will never happen.”
Badley moved to Spain just before Brexit took effect in early 2020 and voted for it in 2016. He said he had no regrets but was distressed to see asylum seekers being housed in former military bases and hotels. He said: “I don’t think the reason I voted for Brexit was to look after our shores..”
Cost of living is also important. He was surprised to discover that thanks to the solar panels at his home, his electricity bill in Spain has never exceeded 4 euros a month. “The weather is not the only reason we leave the UK. It’s not all about busy roads. “Because we get kicked out a lot.”
In Bar International’s Quiz, Ayrshire’s Tracy Fowler agreed. “I still have children in England, but it’s really difficult for them to live there.”
After voting Labor all her life, she backed the Conservatives in 2019 because she couldn’t stand Jeremy Corbyn. This time her vote will go to Starmer. “He is not my favorite person. But I think he is much better than the Conservatives,” she said.
At least one thing about home gives the contestants some satisfaction. Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie was right that she was better known as Lulu.
