As Spanish prime minister warns against Brexit, country’s leading companies back Bremain

The Spanish have spoken, and they have said as one: Brits, do not leave the EU!

As the debate on the EU referendum heats up, 50 leading Spanish firms have penned an open letter to Brits urging them to vote to remain in the European Union in order to protect the prosperity of the UK, Spain and the rest of Europe…

Although the thought of siding with big business on matters political is off-putting for many, the fact that Spain’s largest corporations are giving the matter some serious thought shows just how important the forthcoming vote will be.

From clothing giant Inditex – which owns Zara and a whole host of other high street brands – through to communications company Telefónica and banking giant Santander, more than 50 Spanish members of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) have sought to remind Europe of the financial benefits of sticking together.

This could be one of the biggest opportunities for prosperity in Europe: we need to act in unison to progress,” said the letter, adding: “Europe can and should improve.”

The companies’ intervention came on the same day that current Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said – for the first time – that a Brexit could seriously jeopardise Brits’ right to live, work and claim healthcare in Spain.

In a stark warning to the 400,000+ registered British citizens in Spain, Rajoy said: “I have no doubt whatsoever that it would be very negative if the UK left the EU. Negative for everybody, for the UK, for Spain, for the European Union.”

Rajoy went on to stress: “But above all it would be very negative for British citizens: the EU is based, ever since its foundation, on the principles of freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital.”

The PM, who could find himself out of office if Spain votes a certain way in the forthcoming election repeat on June 26, said that UK citizens in Spain would see crucial rights forfeited if Britain was no longer part of the EU. “This would mean that British citizens would lose their right to move freely, work and do business within the largest economic area and market in the world.”

There is concern growing among British expats in Spain, many fearful what an ‘Out’ vote could mean. While it is unlikely that the Spanish government would seek to turf them all out, the thousands of pensioners who enjoy incremental payment increases – as part of an EU deal – and reciprocal healthcare could well be left counting the cost.

The comments from the Spanish PM followed a warning by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that the Leave campaign’s plan to enact a points-based immigration system (whereby people who want to move to the UK must first speak English and have certain skillsets) could well be adopted by EU countries, making it much harder for Brits to emigrate there unless they too already speak the language or can bring with them valuable skills.

“It would be unavoidable, inevitable, for us and I think for many of us in Europe to follow the same proposals to implement a points system also in the rest of the European Union,” Rutte told BBC News.

“So you would get a race to the bottom and that’s exactly what you don’t want.”

However, recent polls and articles in the British press suggest that the majority of British expats – in Spain and elsewhere – plan to vote to remain in the EU.