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It’s not that often nowadays that Brexit and Spain are uttered in the same sentence. When it does happen, it’s rarely to bring up something positive.
This week the Mirror reported that British passengers on board an easyJet flight to Gibraltar were not allowed to get off when the plane was rerouted to Málaga due to bad weather.
The reason for this? “Because of Brexit”.
Only those with Spanish residency and visas were reportedly allowed to disembark, whilst non-Spanish residents who just held British passports were flown back to Luton (although some did manage to get off in Málaga and travel to Gibraltar by taxi).
Exclusive: EasyJet passengers feel like ‘hostages’ after being ‘barred’ from entering Spainhttps://t.co/gVa8YSkD0u pic.twitter.com/oQpexGe8XW
— Mirror Travel (@MirrorTravel) October 15, 2024
There have been Brexit-fuelled travel problems involving Gibraltar in the past, including the case of a UK national who was denied entry into Spain from ‘The Rock’ in 2021 over a missing stamp in her passport.
This latest incident is a reminder that even though the UK’s official exit from the EU was almost four years ago, the problems Brexit caused are still there.
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In fact, eight years on from the Brexit referendum, there is still no deal on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status, and the latest on the Spain-UK-EU-Gibraltar negotiations isn’t that promising either.
Border trouble is expected if a deal isn’t reached by November, when the EU’s automated border control systems are due to come into force.
READ MORE: Why has Gibraltar still not reached a Brexit deal with Spain?
Furthermore, representatives from Andalusia and the Campo de Gibraltar (the area that surrounds Gibraltar and is part of Cádiz province) have been left out of the negotiations, and it’s here where a no-deal could have the biggest impact as thousands of locals earn a living in Gibraltar. A diplomatic stalemate will undoubtedly also affect Gibraltarians.
More broadly, Keir Starmer’s government has been dragging its feet regarding a youth mobility deal offered to them by the EU, a clear sign from Brussels that they’re willing to move on from a damaging break-up for the sake of young people’s future.
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A proposed UK-EU security pact is also moving at a snail’s pace. The Financial Times has referred to it as “Labour’s unambitious reset with the EU”.
The view from Spain is that Brexit is far from done, especially if Gibraltar’s future hasn’t been decided.
“There is no reason for the United Kingdom to refuse to give its yes to this agreement,” Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares concluded.
In other news, this week we asked you, our readers, if overtourism and the anti-tourism movement have impacted your lives in Spain as foreign residents.
Your responses revealed how a majority of you support the protests taking place across many cities in Spain, and in some cases you are being affected by mass tourism just as locals are.
But you were also clear that overtourism isn’t the only problem affecting Spaniards, with housing mentioned as a primary concern, and that more government action is needed to find a solution that works for everyone.
There’s concern that anti-tourist sentiment could morph into a more generalised anti-foreigner animosity, with the hope among readers that learning the language and integrating proves that residents add more value to Spain than tourists.
And lastly, you know those cerrajero (locksmith) ads that are stuck on lampposts and building doors and letterboxes all over cities in Spain? If you ever lose your keys or get locked out of your home, do not ring those numbers and do not call the first number you get when you search cerrajero on Google.
In fact, the world’s top search engine has just suspended this kind of publicity since it’s emerged that the vast majority of these locksmiths are scammers who charge desperate people over €1,000 to change the lock, having only disclosed the rip-off price once the job has been done.
Instead ask friends or contacts for a recommendation or find a locksmith on the Gremio de Cerrajeros (Locksmiths Association). Remember that having your door opened by a locksmith shouldn’t cost more than €70, €100 if it’s a weekend or on a public holiday. If you are scammed, you should take the matter to the police.