The newcomers have got the hang of one Spanish cliche all right: mañana. But now their situation is starting to hit home – not because Spain does not want them, but because their compatriots could make their situation untenable. The referendum is creating great concern, some alarm, and in one or two cases near-panic. If Britain votes to leave, these Britons will very likely have to leave too, physically as well as politically. If Orihuela Costa were in the UK, its demographics – elderly, white, C1/C2s with a taste for bowls and golf – would make it a prime target for Ukip. Here the thinking is spectacularly different. [...]
The statistics are flaky, but the area is thought to have 50,000 dwellings, far more than the city itself. Nearly half of these would be holiday homes or buy-to-lets. The most authoritative estimate is that 30,000 people actually live along this 10-mile stretch of coast, of whom 80% are non-Spanish. And of those, perhaps two-thirds are British or Irish. [...]
But the majority were very aware where their interests lie. The glories of Spanish healthcare were often mentioned. Some talked about the fear that their UK pensions would be frozen (as is now normal for those living outside the EU) and that they would lose out on annual increases. Others touched on the most likely, most terrifying and most immediate double-whammy they would face: if Britain votes to leave, the pound will go down, making Spain more expensive, but British demand for their houses will disappear, making them effectively unsaleable.
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