BBC journalist visits Costa del Sol to discuss Brexit

WELL respected BBC journalist Paul Moss, who regularly reports on the BBC Radio 4 programme The World Tonight, contacted the Euro Weekly News for advice on where best to travel to in Spain in order to talk to expats about their feelings on the Brexit, and also wanted assistance in getting to meet people.

Thanks to our suggestion, he flew to Malaga and spent the day interviewing British people on their feelings concerning the Brexit referendum before moving on to Madrid.

His first port of call was in a bar in Benalmadena where he spoke to a long-term resident who currently seems to have two passions, football and the EU. This gentleman still feels that he is English but has plenty of Spanish friends and is happy to be part of Europe.

The next person to be interviewed was the Chair of the Costa del Sol Conservatives Abroad Association, who made it clear that unlike a number of UK based grass roots conservative associations, hers was very much in favour of remaining as she saw the area where she lived as part of a united Europe, where she has friends from a number of different countries.

A third interview gained a somewhat different response as that person felt that EU money was often wasted.

He then flew to Madrid to meet British Ambassador Simon Manley, who said the British embassy in Spain is doing all it can to encourage British passport holders to register to vote, although those who have been out of the UK for more than 15 years are banned. 

Mr Manley reported that so far, only 11,000 people from the hundreds of thousands in Spain have even bothered to register to vote.