Rob Horgan
FROM tequila to tapas to travel, everyone knows you get more bang for your buck in Spain compared to back home in Blighty.
But new statistics suggest Londoners could save a fortune if they commuted to work from Spain.
UK MP Tessa Jowell claims those working in England’s capital could save more than €5,500 a year by living in Madrid.
Citing sky-high London rental prices in England’s capital, Jowell also factors in the travel costs as well as the cost of living in her study.
“The housing crisis is getting worse all the time – and renters are paying the price,” said Jowell.
“Londoners are now paying so much to landlords that they could be better off commuting from Madrid than staying in London.”
Her research found that an average Londoner would save €575 a month, despite having to fly to work every day.
The Labour mayoral candidate based her study on a Londoner who spends an average of €2,868 on rent and travel each month.
She found the average Madrileno forks out just €750 on the same expenses.
Whilst she’s correct in saying how expensive renting/living in London is, I’d like her to show proof of how commuting from Madrid or anywhere in Spain on a daily basis would actually save money. It’s an ill founded assessment from her to state that with what looks like a guesstimate. So what would monthly return air-fares plus the train/bus/taxi fares connecting to and from the airports not only in UK but in Spain cost? Article says ‘new statistics suggest’, but where are the stats?
Then add in check-in times to the complete journeys I doubt it could be done from Madrid in under 4 hours each way.
In Bangladesh it’s even cheaper.
This public school educated ‘um’ er ‘umer’ should never have been allowed to join the ‘not very hearty’ party in the first place.
As to her advice which is just plain crazy, it would make total sense if she was a member of the Nasty party, which of course is where she belongs.
That this kind of comment has party backing tells the world why these parasitical ‘what’s in it for me’ careerists got hammered at the undemocratic election.
Time to put the Blairite party out of it’s misery and create a real Social Democratic party as exists in Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Germany et al.
Teresa Jowell…says it all. She is full of crap. Did they work out the airfares on Ryanairs lowest January fare. Ha ha.
This unworkable nonsense has been all over the UK press this week. It doesn’t stack up for anyone to commute between the UK and Spain on a daily basis. The only people that can take advantage of the low property prices in the residential Spanish property market (not to be confused with the holiday home market) are Spaniards who have jobs in Spain.
Interestingly, I know of a Spanish couple who both work for a supermarket (with proper employment contracts) who have just bought a brand new, fully kitted out apartment at a very low price. It is now easier for Spaniards in low paid work to buy a decent apartment in Spain than it is for a highly paid City worker to buy anything like the equivalent property in the UK.
The Blairites are desperate to take the spotlight from Jeremy Corbyn. This is just one of the silly distractions we will see more of as he forges ahead in the estimation of so many people, longing for an alternative to the garbage presently on offer.
I think the point of the articles has been to highlight the high rents in London, rather than to seriously suggest that people commute from Barcelona (or Prague or Madrid or wherever). That said I personally know a couple who currently work in London but have bought a flat in Barcelona – they intend to move there in the next year as the rent they pay out in London doesn’t make the work worthwhile. I suspect neither of them have plans to “commute”.
Cameron and his mates can’t believe their luck with the Corbyn factor. The Conservatives will be in Government for the next ten years…at least. Ha ha ha ha.
So theoretically you get up at 4am for a 5am checkin to a 6am departure for London City airport, where you arrive at 8am. You could probably make your office in Canary Wharf by 9am to start the work day. When you leave work at 5pm you could arrive at LCY by 6pm for a 7pm departure to Madrid, where you arrive at 9pm and maybe home by 10pm? You then go straight to bed as you’re up again at 4am to do it all over again. What is this stupid woman thinking????
I imagine the remarks have been taken out of context. She was probably trying to highlight how prohibitively expensive living in London has become especially compared to other capital cities.
My husband commutes weekly from Cheltenham to Arcos de la Frontera. The savings on living and renting near Bristol are huge.
If Tessa Jowell thinks it’s so easy then why doesn’t she try commuting with many other rather dumb MP’s, after all they’re hardly needed with comments like hers, hmm, and they’re getting a 10% pay rise for their wisdom and advice, then she and her colleagues could claim on MPs’ expenses Lol She conveniently leaves out the costs of daily return air-fares and the further costs of travel to and from airports, let alone the timescales provided everything runs to time.
Sal, your post seems to suggest a once a week commute as opposed to a daily commute, nor by what method of transport? I don’t think flights go from Cheltenham to Arcos de la Frontera, but I know Bristol airport serves some Spanish airports.
There are plenty of Brits living in Northern France who commute once a week to London etc, but then you still need accommodation in your destination which maybe a Company pays rather than the commuter.
Tessa Jowell’s comments suggest this can be done to and from Spain daily by air, she should qualify her suggestions before posting them!
Marion: Similar cackling was heard at the birth of the Indignados/Podemos movement. The person mentioned is just that, a person. He is simply a focus for the desire for change and greater equality.
Try and rid yourself of the slavish need of “leaders”. Cooperation is key in future, else we are doomed to continue to live beneath the heel of those who presently rob us blind.
Corbyn is not heading the birth of any new party. Just the return to the failed party under Michael Foot.