Who are these Britons who flee their homeland for France? How many of them live abroad or think about relocating and why? Basil Howitt investigates and explains this exodus.

“… WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE BRITAIN PLEASE SWITCH OUT THE LIGHTS.”
(The Sun)

The Sun’s famous 1992 headline is still valid today in voicing the disillusionment that drives so many Britons to seek new lives abroad. Why do they go and where do they go? And what especially are the attractions of La Belle France?

Hard figures are difficult to obtain: the Office of National Statistics does not record destinations of emigrants, and the International Passenger Survey (the UK government’s attempt to measure immigration and emigration) has been discredited. However, a count of British passport holders abroad issued by the Foreign Office in 2006 indicated that the most popular destinations in Europe were France and Spain, and that half a million Britons live in the US while more than 600,000 live in Australia. (Daily Mail 03/11/06)

There is another side to this story. Although there is a large net outflow, estimates indicate that around half of all British emigrants eventually return home. Many younger families fail to make a success of new business enterprises, whilst older emigrants miss their children and grandchildren. They also fail to integrate into their new environments in mainland Europe because of language difficulties. In our tiny village in the Languedoc-Roussillon, for instance, any newcomer without reasonable French would feel isolated.

Figures available are mostly guestimates and it is hard to make sense of them. There are also significant discrepancies, especially concerning second home owners in France.

The Daily Mail (03/11/06) reported that the number of British citizens who emigrate each year has risen by more than a third since the mid-1990s.

Furthermore:
In the years 2000 to 2005 1.1 million Britons left the country while fewer than 600,000 returned from abroad - an overall loss of around half a million British citizens. Around 198,000 UK citizens emigrated in each of the years 2004 and 2005. This compares with just under 150,000 in 1997.

Turning now specifically to France:
According to The Guardian (27/01/07): “Barclays estimates that 50,000 British people buy property in France each year, often selling their home in England to buy ruins mortgage-free and painstakingly doing them up. In addition to the resident British, some half a million more own holidays homes there [surely an excessive estimate, see below].

French property fairs in Britain were once 65% geared towards holiday homes; now the balance has tipped in favour of people seeking a permanent move. The traditional British retired professionals such as ex-teachers, police officers and civil servants living down the sweep of the west of France and across to the Côte d'Azur and Alps are now being joined by couples in their 30s and 40s.”

The French census of 2004 revealed that there were 100,000 Britons living permanently in France - double the figure of five years earlier. And this does not include the estimated 50,000 people who have second homes across the Channel, where many spend more than half the year. (Daily Telegraph 02/04/07)

According to Simon Jenkins in the Sunday Times (22/04/07), 42,000 Britons emigrated to France in 2005, against the 30,000 French men and women who settled in the UK. Jenkins says there are 50,000 second home owners, whilst 7.3 million British holidaymakers choose France each year.

It seems that so many French are attracted to the UK because of its more favourable environment for entrepreneurs. It reportedly takes two days to set up a company in Britain against three months in France. Whatever the overall advantages of living in France, the country’s economy and bureaucracy are not among them. It remains to be seen whether Sarkozy will be able to carry out his proposed reforms.

WHY THE BRITS ARE LEAVING

The reasons for the exodus are both negative and positive

As you sit in stationary traffic and pouring rain, worrying about the mortgage and whether you'll ever get a date for treatment on that ingrowing toenail, you may not be totally surprised by the news. In the league table of the best countries to live, Britain is 37th. And as if that wasn't wounding enough, the country judged to offer the finest quality of life in the world is none other than our closest, but not always friendliest neighbour, France. The list of 191 countries was compiled by the U.S. travel magazine International Living using nine criteria - cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety, and climate.
(Daily Telegraph 26/01/07)

First the negatives. Here is one guru and analyst Robert Whelan, Deputy Director of the Civitas think tank, as quoted in the Daily Mail (03/11/06):

“People are emigrating because of a sense of hopelessness about the problems here. They see us going round and round in circles but nothing is ever done about the big problems like education, health care, and crime. [Only one crime in 39 currently ends with a conviction.] There is a growing sense that politicians will never deal with the problems. There is a lot of talk, then people pay more tax and get less back for it.”

Teenage drunkenness and violence

The Mail also reports that British teenagers in the UK are now the worst behaved in Europe. According to Tony Blair's favourite think-tank, the Institute of Public Policy Research, 27 percent of British teenagers are regularly drunk, the highest in Europe. That compares with just three per cent of French teenagers and five per cent in Italy.” To make matters worse, about a quarter of all arrests for drink-driving offences relate to people between the ages of 17 and 24.

According to Professor Roger Williams, who carried out George Best’s liver transplant before the soccer legend’s untimely death from chronic alcoholism: “France and Italy have more than halved their alcohol consumption over the time that it has doubled in the UK, and if we are unable to reverse this trend we will have failed the next generation.” (Medical News Today 15/02/06)

It is therefore hardly surprising to learn that British teenagers are also the most aggressive, with 44 per cent having been involved in a fight in 2006.

This case of a teenage house-trashing rams home the points made.
“ekkk well i hope u liked the party ..was fuckin wild like!!! hmmm another lol???xx”

The Guardian 14/04/07 reported that a teenage girl of 17, Rachel Bell, who hosted a disastrous “let's trash my house” party was arrested the previous day on suspicion of causing criminal damage to the tune of £20,000 in her family home while her parents were away. “Although her parents, who had gone for a caravan weekend with her sister and two brothers, had forbidden guests while they were away, she admitted asking round 60 friends and a couple of DJs. …

The party led to pandemonium in Woodstone village, near Houghton-le-Spring, as seven police cars, including a dog unit, sealed off the street and tried to cope with drunken teenagers - and allegedly some children as young as 11 - until after 4am. Enraged neighbours with golf clubs chased partygoers, who had arrived from as far away as London, blocking the cul-de-sac with minibuses and cars. Mrs Bell said yesterday that the £230,000 house felt ‘as though it had been raped,’ with vomit, graffiti and urine on floors, clothes and beds.

Her other children's things had been trashed in an apparent copycat version of an incident on Channel 4's teen soap Skins. Fighting back tears, the 48-year-old teacher told Sky News: ‘A huge tragedy has happened here and I want people prosecuted for what has been done. That house has been torn apart. Rachel has got to take blame for organising the party in the first place ...’”

Two other similarly hideous house-trashings by teenagers have also been reported recently. One was inadvertently sparked off by the daughter of the Scottish pop singer Annie Lennox, whose ex-husband’s home was turned into “a bomb site”. The other happened when around 200 yobs made mayhem in an unoccupied detached house in Croydon in south London, causing £30,000 of damage.

“It stinks! to put it mildly.”

Finally, a personal story from a couple desperate to leave the UK as soon as language skills and business considerations permit. Here is Margaret’s account sent to us last October.

“On George’s Birthday … R & E wanted to take him out for a curry in the evening as a treat. They picked us up and drove us to just outside of Bradford Centre to one of the old original curry houses in Bradford. We parked the car and all 4 our us got out,. George held the door open for me to get out of the back on the side nearest the road. I walked only 2 or 3 steps to the back of the car heading for the pavement and I felt a thud in the middle of my back which knocked me forward. I thought I had been run over or whacked with an instrument or something. (It was particularly painful to me as I have been in agony with my back for months and was only present as I had been in a hot bath before setting off)

Next I felt liquid all down my back and left arm - scared as I thought it was blood. It was raw eggs which I think were fired from a catapult!!! I refused to enter the restaurant but R & R insisted it was George’s treat and not to spoil it. I sat all night with my arm and watch sticky and smelly and my new blouse stuck to my skin. Guess whether I enjoyed the food?

“I was the only one with my back to the road and did not see the car full of Asian youths approaching - cowardly act or not!! They drove off at high speed. This was a full blown racial attack by them who all cry 'racist' when they do not get their own way. I am still appalled and totally disgusted and do not wish to visit Bradford again for a long time, if ever. …

“So you see why I needed time to tell you this and can you now see why we want to get out of the country - it stinks! to put it mildly.”

NOW FOR THE ATTRACTIONS OF FRANCE

Costs and climate

In our region (the Languedoc Roussillon) heat is only needed for about five months a year, from mid November through to mid April - a staggering difference from the north east of England where the heating often has to stay on throughout the year.

Typical sights from the Dordogne

Then there’s the wine! A decent litre of local red (bag in box) can cost the equivalent of little more than 1 GBP. Motoring is cheaper. There is no annual road tax – just a one off payment of around £90 for a carte grise when you buy a car new or second hand. And insurance compares very favourably with the UK, especially as it allows any authorised driver with a license (including under 25s) to use the vehicle, and also includes roadside assistance.

Property is still comparatively cheap: according to the Mayor of Eymet, a three-bedroom property with swimming pool and land even in the expensive expat haven of the Dordogne still only costs between £100,000 and £250,000.

Health and Quality of Life

As many people know, the French Health Service, although now running at around 11 billion euros a year over budget, was rated the best in the world by the World Health organisation in 2004. Although cost-cutting reforms are in progress, there is still no waiting for any essential treatment - as I can personally vouch when I found myself with a skin cancer last year. And even though the system is contributory, this can be covered by modest complementary insurance premiums. My wife and I pay around £35 a month each which covers us for most prescribed medications and hospital residential costs.

France's carte Vitale

In the words once again of Simon Jenkins (this time perhaps just a touch over-euphoric here and there): “France takes seriously the protection of its urban and rural environment. It values civic life: witness the cleanliness, security and confidence of municipalities there compared with Britain’s.

Public services work. France’s trains run far and fast. Towns and cities, parks and museums are beautiful — as are even motorway service stations. The public realm in France has taste and bravura. In Britain it is grotty, largely because it is under the aegis of Whitehall and Westminster.

“Europeans used to fight to get into Britain’s NHS hospitals. Not any more. Today the flight from these demoralised, MRSA-ridden places to France’s immaculate hospitals is becoming a flood. When last year Jacques Chirac warned that to pursue British policies risked having to accept Britain’s quality of life, his audience laughed. The risk was unthinkable.”

Little England in France

Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, another motive for moving to France is to recreate life as it was in the UK 50 years ago! The Daily Telegraph reported on 22/01/07 that research carried out by Montesquieu University in Bordeaux “highlights the nostalgic ambitions of 2,750 British people planning to move to France in the next three years. Rather than being attracted by fresh daily croissants, communal pétanque, or other aspects of French rural living, almost all expressed a desire to return to a country where old-fashioned British values prevailed.”

Marie-Martine Gervais-Aguer, the author of the study, said: “A lot of these people come from urbanised areas. They are looking for an authentic experience that fits in with their dreams. Freshly farmed food, the security of a tight-knit community – all of these things people associate with a typical French village that they feel no longer exists in Britain. There is a nostalgia for the way British villages used to be 50 years ago.”

The Bordeaux study also found that “nearly 70 per cent of those planning to buy a home in France want to live in the countryside, with Aquitaine in the south-west and Poitou-Charentes, the next region to the north, by far the most popular areas. The most sought-after part of Aquitaine is the Dordogne, which has more than 20,000 permanent British residents – a figure which is likely to swell to around 100,000 when holiday homes in picturesque towns and villages are taken into account.

Typical is Eymet, a 13th century settlement on the river Dropt, which has been nicknamed ‘Little England’. Gini Cook, 45, moved to Eymet from Britain with her family three years ago and now runs the Bizarre gift shop near the main square.
‘There are all kinds of attractions which bring you right back in time,’ she said. ‘There's very little crime, services like the post and transport work, and everyone is generally a lot more polite than in Britain. Property prices are a lot more reasonable too.’”

Joie de vivre

Finally, and speaking now purely personally, the pleasure in living here in the Languedoc-Roussillon is the prevailing joie de vivre. It is infectious and addictive. It is fuelled by all the sunshine and usually congenial climate, and by all the communal village festivals

and fairs.

These events celebrate almost everything from local saints and historical or folkloric events to local produce and live stock: vintages in abundance, of course, but also asparagus, artichokes, potatoes, red onions, peaches, apples, almonds, apricots, cherries, olives, chestnuts, rosemary, thyme, truffles, poultry, pigs, lambs, calves, goats, oysters, eels, mussels, morue (dried cod), you name it …

And at these events every conceivable product associated with these and other items is on sale – wines, liqueurs, jams, honeys, apple juices, olive oils, nut preparations including marrons glacés, cheeses, foie gras, magrets de canard, cuisses de canard, saucissons, pâtés, take-away pork stews and paëllas, thyme-based soups, grillades (barbecued mixed grills of lamb chops, belly pork slices, sausages and black puddings), mussels and chips …

At the heart of many of these events are intensely serious and convivial sessions of communal eating, drinking and, maybe afterwards, singing, dancing (sardanes and ballroom) or a game of pétanque. Or, if you’re not feeling too energetic, you can just sleep it off under a tree or on a bench. And when you have recovered there will be as likely as not art exhibitions or concerts to visit.

These events continue throughout the year, even if a little less frenetically in winter. One neighbour of mine, Maurice, said that some village would soon start celebrating a Festival of the Air – there being absolutely nothing else left to commemorate.

In my view, a great deal of credit for this joie de vivre must be given to the Catholic church – but that’s another story!

by Basil Howitt

Copyright Expatica

Subject: Britons, Relocation, Moving to France, Life in France, Life in England