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| Two things there....:
1. It's a decent boost, yes, but a long way from dependent on. Theres many more Germans going there, for example. And given the relative collapse in tourist numbers to Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey the whole northern side of the Med is basically full with or without the Brit tourists
2. The retirees only pay off as long as the UK picks up their health bills. If after Brexit this is no longer the case they become a liability. | |
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Two things.
First the numbers. Sure there are loads of Germans and Belgians and other nationalities in Spain. But Brits are by far the biggest group. The others are not going to compensate that.
Second
Healthcare in Spain is actually cheaper than in the uk. So Britain will gladly continue paying those bills. Way cheaper than having all those pensioners return home. Especially seeing that many bought their homes in the property bubble and forcing them to sell now would create poverty.
Gibraltar is above all a question of patriotism, nationalism and pride. For both sides. But more so for Spain. And so far Britain and Spain have got on just fine while grandstanding about it when the opportunity arose, but fully understanding that in the interests of pragmatism, it wasn't going to get in the way of real business.
Even if they pretend otherwise, both sides also know that if there is going to be a change in the status of Gibraltar, it's going to have a price.