brexit-sandcastle-2THE past fortnight has been one of the most extraordinary periods in Britain’s history.

When a British Prime Minister’s resignation isn’t even the day’s biggest story, the scale of the event becomes abundantly clear.

The endless drama unfolding day after day since has been straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Labour and Conservative front benches torn apart. A possible alliance between Scotland and Gibraltar. Boris Johnson scuppered. UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s resignation. An emboldened Spanish PP.

Has a fortnight ever shaken a country’s political foundations so profoundly?

Well put it this way. Us expats in Spain are now well and truly in the firing line and in uncharted, some would say, stormy waters.

Teresa May yesterday said it in so many words, refusing to guarantee the residency rights of 1.3 million British expats and three million EU citizens in the UK.

“These are people who have put down roots, with children, families, caring responsibilities, who pay taxes and contribute to our economy and society,” raged Labour MP Andy Burnham at the home secretary.

He was referring to EU citizens in the UK. But those same fears are now gripping 800,000 British expats living in Spain.

This is an incredibly frightening time for us all. And made worse by the fact we have nobody to represent us in parliament.

Whereas UK residents can turn to their constituency MPs, a diaspora of 1.2 million British people have no proper representation in Westminster.

But today we begin the fightback, launching a petition calling for an expat parliamentary action group to deal with our hopes and fears.

Business bodies, media groups and many others have already committed to come on board.

We urge you all to sign. Our unified voice must be heard in the testing months and years to come.

Together we are stronger!

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