About a year ago I attended a meeting in Palma organised by EporE (Europeos por España) which was looking at the possible consequences of a British exit from the European Union. On the panel there were two experts; one was a leading lawyer who had experience in dealing with the European Union and the other was Esteban Mas MBE, former British Vice Consul and ex-Balearic government representative in Brussels. They both agreed that a British exit from Europe would have little or no impact on British citizens living abroad as a result of numerous bilateral agreements which have been signed over the years. So in other words, and according to the experts, we would continue as normal. We would be largely unaffected. Now, as far as I can see the only people who might have a problem if Britain left the European Union would be those who move to Europe after the exit. Their status would be unclear, I believe. We are going to hear plenty of alarming reports over the coming months but I will quote the words of the experts: we have nothing to fear.
So, the Royal Navy can stand down. It will not have to evacuate hundreds of thousands of expatriates from Spain, the British National Health Service will not be coming under pressure from the thousands of returning expatriates and the government should not worry about more applications for the winter fuel allowance. All should be fine.