President Puig of Valencia announced today that he would guarantee health care to British residents in the region after Brexit.
He said: “I want to send a message of absolute affection to the whole British community who lives amongst us, and guarantee them that there will be no interruption in fundamental public services, that health care is guaranteed to anyone who lives in our region”.
The message of “affection, love and security to our British friends”, in his words, came during a conference held this morning by tourism chiefs to analyse the possible effects of Brexit upon the Valencian tourism sector.
An agreement was reached to setup a committee to follow the Brexit proceedings and report back to the Valencian government. Puig reiterated that the British tourism market continues to be the most important one for the region, and that a planned British advertising campaign would go ahead.
Antonio Mayor of the Benidorm hotel association said that his members were worried about the fall in the pound, “but that the good thing about the Brits is that they don’t give up on their holidays and will still come”.
Quite.
There are many a slip between twixt cup and the lip, but the southern regional governments are all starting to make the right noises to keep the lucretive British residential and tourism market, so with a bit of luck they’ll put pressure on Madrid to do the right thing.
Does this apply to pensioners and will it still be free.