lucilastic

I am English but lived for many years in Scotland.My family were self-employed there & also on the south coast of England.Some 30 years ago we relocated to Spain,again operated a successful business & now retired there.I did briefly return to Devon but kept my property also in Spain but returned as strangely I was asked if I wanted to sell my Devon home.Although I did like where I lived & the people,for me,I missed terribly the multi-cultural environment I had in Spain.No one seemed to know much outside the British Isles & I thought the life was far too insular.Where I live we foreigners outnumber the native Spanish but we all mix in,mostly Scandinavian,Dutch & German with 30 odd other nationalities also.We take part in each country´s cultural activities,even learning a few phrases of different languages & a lot of miming!I appreciate that my small town is quite affluent with excellent facilities mostly due to the fact that when the Berlin wall came down so many west Germans migrated here & Norwegians retired from North sea oil rigs in the mid 80´s & they invested in this place.We ex-pat Brits were not here as residents in great number but I am amazed to be practically the last of the "oldies".They are returning to UK,concerned with what Brexit will mean financially to them.Bad news I fear for the UK economy since the NHS will be more overburdened & likewise the ones returning will miss their carefree lifestyle & don´t forget,many were disenfranchised from the referendum vote.Bit too late giving it back to us for 2020 election.

BEVS

Hi there Lucilastic.

You placed your topic in the UK Back Home forum, where people update on their new beginnings in the UK. That forum is pre-approved so went into the mod queue to start with.

Did you mean this for the UK forums please or did you mean this for the Spain forums.

From the title of your thread and the content of your post it is not clear which audience you wished to chat about this with.

thanks
BEVS

lucilastic

I wanted it in the"back home"forum,as perhaps it is of some interest to those who are considering moving back.Thank you.

mikelincs

The biggest problem you have is that no-one knows what might happen after Brexit as Brexit hasn't even started, so it will be at least 2019 before the full affects are felt.

Editha

Actually, we have a very good idea of what will happen after Brexit. It is going to be a 'hard Brexit' because the UK will not agree to freedom of movement.

This means a large part of our financial services sector -- maybe 100,000 jobs or more, will decamp to the EU. A further 50,000 jobs will be lost in manufacturing.

The refusal to allow freedom of movement will affect industries such as fruit growing and the construction industry, which will experience labour and skill shortages.

christmasoompa

The 'Back Home' forum isn't for general musing or discussions though, it's for updates from those that have moved back to the UK, so isn't the right place for this thread.

If you want to discuss it in the MBTTUK forum, then this is the right place, or it can be moved to Spain if you want to discuss it there.

HTH.

mikelincs

So, please give links to where the government has said it will be a hard Brexit, I can't find any. Not just one MPs musings but a clear and unequivocal statement from the government.

Editha

It isn't up to the government, is it? There are two parties to negotiations. May has made i t quite clear that freedom of movement is not negotiable. The leaders of the EU have made it clear that it is not negotiable for them too. The inevitable result is a hard Brexit.

BristolUK

Latest...
Theresa May privately warned that companies would leave the UK if the country voted for Brexit during a secret audience with investment bankers a month before the EU referendum.

It really is time someone called a halt to this farce. It's one thing after another and none of it looking good for the country.

States of emergencies have probably been called for less.

"My fellow UKayans...we are encountering many difficulties that were not foreseen and there have been some changes in the situation in Europe which we cannot ignore. There is too much uncertainty to go ahead with plans to leave the EU at this time.

For the sake of our Nation's stability we are putting this on hold and we shall revisit the issue at some appropriate time in the future." TM

Basically, "is that your final answer?"

elonii

Myself and my husband would *never* have returned to the UK had we known that the referendum would result in Brexit. We had a certain and secure life in Australia, now we are back in the UK facing a whole load of uncertainty at the start of our new life here.

We are now not prepared to buy a house until we know more about what will happen, and some actual economic data that represents the new situation in the UK feeds through. The area we would like to buy in has only just started to see small recoveries in property market. Not in the prices (they are still slowly dropping), but in the fact houses actually sell.

I was glad to see Nissan keeping manufacturing of their cars in Sunderland. But the lack of transparency about how that deal was done is a worry for this whole process. The massive black hole where any kind of information about this process should be is glaringly apparent.

What the heck have we come back to?!

holly_1948

If you're retired can't you simply be a "snowbird"?
That is to say spend Summers in Britain and Winters in warmer climes.

Although British bureaucracy is simply not geared up for people who live that way, many other countries are.

BristolUK

More fear and panic for Pulaski

Brexit so complex it could overwhelm politicians, warn senior academics

Editha

Since I am in my mid-sixties, the main way I'll be affected by Brexit is in a reduced income, and poorer public services (the latter is more important than the former) as a result of Britain's inevitable economic decline.

As carer for my mother, I'm not able to consider going to live in another EU country. But the fall in the pound would make it difficult anyway, together with the loss of the right of freedom of movement post-Brexit.

Otherwise I would consider doing so. My husband, who is a joint British/Canadian citizen, is also entitled to an Irish passport through a granny born in Ulster, so if we went to live in Ireland for a year, I could get an Irish passport through him, and then we'd be free to live where we chose.

not2old

Editha for you personally how would you make up or overcome the drop in income (falling pound against other currencies) as well as get better services - what options would you suggest for folks in their 60's or older in similar circumstance?

Should folks under the circumstance above leave the UK, find somewhere else to live, go back to work or continue on working, lower there lifestyle from what it is now, sell their homes if they have one & rent?

BristolUK

Did Boris really say that with Brexit Britain will be like the Titanic? Oh dear.