British expats seethe at post-Brexit travel restrictions
A picture of a passenger walking between departure gates in Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport - Credit: PA
British expats have blasted post-Brexit travel rules which will prevent them spending more than three months at a time in the EU.
When the transition period ends on January 1, Britons intending to stay in a European country longer than 90 days will have to apply for a visa in every sixth month spell.
There are an estimated 500,000 Britons who own a holiday home somewhere in Europe and the new rules could make it difficult for them to get value for money from their purchase.
In an interview with the MailOnline, one expat who owns a home in Germany but works in Gabon complained that he would now have to "choose between giving up being British or going where my life has taken me".
Another, who has a home in France, said: "All I am asking for is parity, and to have the same rules for us as EU citizens have in the UK.
"We bring money into the local economy all the time we are there so I don’t understand why we should be discouraged from spending our six months in any one year whenever we want to."
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Twitter users leapt on the news, suggesting this was exactly what Brexiteers wanted in 2016.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw wrote: "This would be funny were it not so sad. There are no new rules, just the same ones that apply to all 'third countries' which the U.K will become as a result of Johnson’s hardest of Brexits - backed by the very same Daily Mail."
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Former BBC presenter Gavin Esler added: "Brexiteers were furious when told people really didn't know what they were voting for. Now they are furious because... eh, people didn't know what they were voting for."
Politics lecturer Jennifer Cassidy posted: "If 2020 was a headline: 'Brexiteers angry and irate at the exact thing, they voted and campaigned for'."
Marc C lashed out at those blaming the EU for a change in rules. "This is absurd," he posted. "Why blast the EU? Blast the people that voted away freedoms, the ones that voted to cancel their subscriptions and revert to a pay-as-you-go model. This is Brexit, the gift that keeps on giving."
The New European's Tim Walker posted: "‘Le pitbull pro-Brexit Daily Mail...’ How can you not be charmed by the French?"
News at One presenter Bryan Dobson wrote: "The sound of chickens coming home to roost perhaps?"
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