Joe Duggan (Reporter)
BRITISH ambassador to Spain Simon Manley has said Mariano Rajoy and the Spanish government ‘value the presence of Britons in Spain’.
Speaking to the Olive Press at Malaga’s English Cemetery, the UK’s man in Madrid revealed he has held meetings with national, regional and local leaders to put across expats fears over Brexit.
Manley is also holding discussions with expats as the UK government prepares for negotiations over leaving the EU, with access to health care one of the primary concerns of Spanish-based Brits.
Manley said: “We are trying to meet with expats and groups representing them to understand their concerns and transmit those concerns to our colleagues in London.
“Many expats have suffered from the fall in sterling, which has affected pensions. We want to work with Spanish authorities at the national, regional and local level to ensure Brits can continue to live and buy property here.”
He added: “Whether it be the Spanish national government, from Prime Minister Rajoy down, through to presidents of regional governments I have met and many a city mayor, all of them tell me they value the presence of Britons here in Spain.”
Manley was taken on a tour of the cemetery with the mayor of Malaga Francisco de La Torre by the president of the English Cemetery in Malaga Foundation Bruce McIntyre.
The ambassador and De La Torre stopped to lay flowers at the grave of British writer Gerald Brenan.
Manley said: “People like Gerald Brenan did so much to enable Britons to understand the reality of Spain in the 20th century. His cultural legacy lives on.
“I read about Spain through the works of Laurie Lee, Orwell and Brenan. It’s important to try and understand the context in which we’re working and understand more about the historical relationship between the UK and Spain.”
It’s a pity that the British Embassy in Madrid doesn’t value Brits in Spain. I requested information about residencias as the local office (Baza Granada) for foreigners has stated that no more residencias would be issued following the article 50 notification until exit negotiations were complete. The response from the Embassy was we do not answer emails, same approach I got from the Foreign and Commonwealth office when I raised a query with them when the referendum was first mooted. If the Embassy cannot answer emails they could at least set up a special section “Latest Brexit News” on their website. This is a serious matter affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of British subjects and the Embassy and FCO cavalier approach is just not good enough. Might I suggest that if the Olive Press has the ear of the Ambassador they give it a good clout.
The Foreign Office is and always has been controlled by public schoolboys, if your not one of them – go away and don’t annoy us, I thought everyone knew that.
The meeting at a cemetery is not a good sign of the future of British expats in Spain after Brexit. Everyone knows what a cemetery means. It is the end of everything.
First things, first Mister Ambassador:
All UNO Resolutions are in favour of Spain claims that proved that Gibraltar is Spanish as well as the sovereignty was not ceded. Gibraltarians are not acknowledged as the original population of Gibraltar but a planted population by UK.
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/55/a55497.pdf
Page 23, clause 6
The United Nations has established in various resolutions that there is no one formula for decolonization. The principle of self-determination, although applicable to most colonial situations, is not absolute. It is limited by another principle —that of territorial integrity, as specified in resolutions 1514 (XV) and 2625(XXV). For the specific case of the decolonization of Gibraltar, the principle of territorial integrity applies, as recognized in resolutions 2353 (XXII) and 2429 (XXIII).
United Nations / 20 October 2000