Spain allocates nearly 1,000 new civil servants to cope with Hard Brexit

SPEAKING to the Spanish Parliament today (Wednesday), the current President of the Cortes, Pedro Sánchez revealed that an additional 875 public service posts had been allocated in anticipation of a hard Brexit.

Many of the staff involved were already in post as Spain prepared for Brexit in any case but additional employment had to be created to cope with a no-deal Brexit.

Many of these jobs would be in the police service as new documentation would need to be organised for the estimated 400,000 British passport holders who may wish to take advantage of the offer to take up Spanish residence under new EU rules and this is some 70,000 higher than those already registered.

Extra work will be required at border crossings with both immigration and customs officers required and it is expected that the British will be offered free medical care when in Spain provided that Britain offers the same to Spanish nationals.

Gibraltar was mentioned as an area for special consideration and Mr Sánchez believes that the future rights of Spain to approve new deals concerning the UK, Gibraltar and EU will exist even in a no-deal scenario.

He also warned MPs that if the British Parliament could get itself into such a mess that Spain ought to take note and members of the House should conduct themselves in the best possible way.