Brits on how life in Spain would change if the UK rejoined EU

Last week, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham put the idea of the UK rejoining the European Union back on the table, by saying that they could seek to become part of the customs union again, return to the single market or “go all the way” for full EU membership once again.

Speaking at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recalled the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU: “Brexit was a huge loss, both for the British people and for the EU and the European project as a whole”, and called Britain a “sister nation”. 

Whether or not a Brexit reversal become a reality any time soon, we wanted to know your views on the matter and so asked our British readers how the UK rejoining the bloc would change their lives.

READ ALSO: Spain’s PM welcomes Burnham’s openness to UK rejoining EU

Unsurprisingly, most of our readers cited that getting freedom of movement back would be the biggest change and the one that affected most of them now.

Even though many have residency in Spain and are allowed to stay as long as they want here, most readers were concerned that family members back home could not enjoy the same benefits or could not stay for extended periods of time beyond 90 days.

“I could bring my elderly parents over for longer,” wrote one British reader in Spain.

“My kids would have freedom of movement,” another commenter agreed.

“My grandchildren could stay as long as they wanted and life would be better,” a third commenter said.

“I would like to see younger people have the opportunity to come to the EU to live and work and learn how it is to live in another country. It might just stop some of that bigotry we see in the UK if more people could experience other cultures,” one reader explained.

READ ALSO – ‘It’s f**ked us’: Brits in Spain spell out the impact of Brexit ten years on

Then there were those who said that Brexit had ruined their plans of living between Spain and the UK or even retiring here and that getting freedom of movement back again would change all that. 

“We could spend more than 90/180 days in our home in Spain without giving up our life in the UK,” said one Briton.

“I could spend more time in my little flat that I bought before brex****!” wrote a British second-home owner.

“[It would change] massively. In terms of problematic car travel (we don’t fly), car insurance, no more 90 day rubbish, an endless list,” one agreed.

“Freedom of movement and NO SILLY 90 days rule. When you’ve worked hard all your life, when you retire you need to be able to do what you have planned and budgeted to do. Some people like flashy cars and houses, me personally like to travel and see the world a bit,” another said. 

READ ALSO: No, Spain isn’t lobbying for 90-day rule change for Brits

“I’d stay all winter,” another explained, while one simply wrote “I could stay in Spain longer!!”

If Brexit was reversed, “I could purchase a property and visit regularly then eventually retire to Spain,” one reader said.

For some, it wasn’t just the fact that they couldn’t spend as much time in their Spanish holiday homes as they wanted, but that they had to pay more taxes on it too.

“I’d be liable to pay less income tax on my holiday rental. Before Brexit I paid 19 percent with expenses deductible, now I pay 24 percent with no expenses deductible,” a reader explained about differences in the IRNR tax.

READ ALSO: What will change for Brits in Spain with Burnham as new UK PM?

Of course, it now also makes living in Spain much more difficult for those who didn’t have residency before Brexit and are not covered under the Withdrawal Agreement. They now have to apply for visas and have stricter requirements such as earning over a certain amount, meeting certain remote work rules or not being allowed to work at all in the case of the Non-Lucrative Visa.

“Freedom of movement, option to not have to be retired at 58 to live here! Option for my daughter to move over and work here without visas etc,” one reader wrote.

“It would mean I could live in my casa while working from home. No NLV would be needed. No need to wait to retirement. It would be my dream come true,” another commenter concluded.

“Right to say longer, employment opportunities and less taxes as non-EU resident” said another.

For others, it was their businesses that had suffered because of Brexit and that it would all change again if Britain could rejoin the EU.

One owner of a language school in Catalonia explained that he would be able to employ teachers again.

“As l own a British food import company in the Costa Brava, my business would be greatly helped by rejoining the customs union and trading block,” another wrote. “Pre Brexit l would spend near to a million euros with UK companies but that dropped to 100k last year with Ireland being the biggest gainers as l now buy mostly from there, although they are still mainly UK goods, just through a less direct channel. The costs of doing business would certainly drop though.”

For many readers though, freedom of movement and visas weren’t big problems, but buying products and receiving packages from the UK as well as food that they missed were. Manly agreed that their lives would greatly improve in this aspect if the UK could rejoin.  

“I could start buying things from the UK again. I could receive gifts from my family without paying import duties greater than the value of the gift. No more bank charges transferring money from the UK to my Spanish bank account and I could watch BBC I player again,” said one.

“Not having to pay taxes when you receive a parcel from UK. Sometimes you pay more than the item is worth,” another wrote.

“I could get packages from family without having to pay customs!,” agreed another.

“I could legally bring cheese, bacon and sausage back with me. I have to smuggle it in a big suitcase at the moment,” one reader admitted.

“We might get decent sausages back in overseas supermarket. I like the Waitrose ones,” one reader commented.

Several others commented that it would be easier to get pork pies again from the UK if it were part of the EU.

Interestingly, several readers didn’t believe their lives would change at all if Britain rejoined the EU.

“As someone who has lived in Spain pre and post Brexit, NADA, nothing. All that’s changed for us is our Spanish ID,” wrote one.

“I was here before Brexit. Nothing would change for me except my passport. UK is now unreliable, so I am going local,” said another.

One Brit believed that it wouldn’t change anything for her personally living here, but that “It would be so much better for the UK as things were easy to come and go and trade and for us to purchase things from the UK ..and for property. As a small nation, the UK needs back up from EU in different ways.” 

Another Briton said: “I have a property in Lanzarote I’ve never spent more than 88 days there at a time in 20 years and I would not change it even if we were back in the EU, so for me nothing”.

While there were still a handful of readers who believed that the UK was better off outside of the EU and voted to leave, even though they lived here, the overwhelmingly the majority agreed that life would be so much better if the UK rejoined.