Madrid (AFP) - Spain said Friday it had reached a deal with Britain allowing citizens living in both countries to keep voting in local elections as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit looms.
"This agreement will prevent these rights from disappearing for British people who live in our country and for Spanish people living in the United Kingdom," Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa told reporters.
"There will be municipal elections in Spain and in the United Kingdom in May," she added.
The local polls in Britain and Spain, on May 2 and May 26 respectively, will be held after Britain's planned exit from the European Union on March 29.
The British parliament's massive rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May's EU divorce deal with Brussels earlier this week has raised the prospect of Britain crashing out of the bloc without any deal in place.
The bilateral agreement announced on Friday comes as part of a series of other measures touted by the Spanish government to try and guarantee the rights of Britons living in Spain and vice-versa in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Spain is the number one destination for British nationals living outside Britain, ahead of France and Ireland.
Officially, just under 241,000 Britons are registered as residing in Spain, but many have not formally signed up and it is estimated up to 800,000 live in the country.
In December, the European Commission also announced it had taken measures in sectors most exposed to a so-called hard Brexit.
The aim is to avoid chaos on March 29 that would cause problems for citizens and companies in Britain and the EU, particularly in financial services, air transport and customs.
