Cricket pitches and bowling greens are not the usual stuff of Spanish politics, but issues close to the hearts of British expatriates are coming to the fore as Spain’s political parties vie for their votes ahead of Sunday’s local elections.

Denis MacShane, the former Minister for Europe, spent last weekend campaigning on Majorca on behalf of Spain’s ruling Socialist Party. His aim: to help them to harness crucial British votes needed to recapture the yacht-filled municipality of Calvià from the conservative Popular Party (PP).

“The PP won here by only 258 votes four years ago – and the expat vote will make the difference between who wins and who loses,” Mr MacShane told The Times.

One of the most pressing issues for the British community in Calvià is the possibility that their beloved cricket pitch and bowling green might be developed by the local council into shops and flats. The Socialist Party has never had a line on cricket, but the party’s candidate for Mayor has rallied energetically to its defence.

“We must defend the future of cricket in [Calvia] and not let the developers win,” declared Antoni Manchado.

The Socialist Party’s new-found love of cricket and its efforts to tap British Labour Party figures are signs of the growing political clout enjoyed by Britons living in Spain.

The Socialists were thought widely to have lost Calvià in 2003 because of the tireless campaigning of one Briton, Kate Mentink-Duncan, who persuaded thousands of her countrymen to back the PP candidate.

The Mayor, Carlos Delgado, said later: “It was the ‘Kate Factor’ that made the difference, because, without the British, we would never have succeeded.”

Up to one million Britons are estimated to live at least part of the year in Spain – no one knows for certain because, as EU citizens, they do not have to register.

Of those, 270,000 are registered with their local authority, which gives them the right to vote in local and European elections. The number of Britons registered in Spain is estimated to grow by up to 20 per cent a year.

Traditionally, British residents have been reluctant to get involved in local politics, either because they have been insulated from the communities around them or because of fears that the taxman could catch up with them. But, according to John MacKay, who organises for the Labour Party on the Costa Blanca, that is now changing. “Expatriates are becoming increasingly disenchanted with – as they see it – the lack of dynamism and interest in the expatriate situation on the part of the Spanish local political parties,” he said.

Their reticence is also fading as a growing number of Britons decide to stand for office themselves. Tony Cabban got involved in local politics after EU citizens won the right to vote in other member states in 1999. He became an independent councillor in Jávea, in Alicante province, and has formed a new party, Nueva Jávea, with two other expats. One of them, a Dutch citizen called Ana Vasbinder, could become Spain’s first foreign mayor.

There are more than 2,700 British voters on the electoral roll in Jávea, compared with 11,000 Spanish voters, Mr Cabban said. He said of the Spanish: “They screw it up and they’re corrupt. They’ve had their chance for 30 years, since democracy returned. If they’d done it well, we wouldn’t have got involved.”

The British are not the only ones making themselves felt. At least 380,000 Romanians are registered in Spain and have already formed a party since their country entered the EU this year. Parties are also being started by immigrants from Ecuador, Chile, Morocco and Guinea.

According to Mr MacShane, the lesson learnt in Spain will be equally important in Britain. “Spain really is the testing ground where we’re seeing the development of politics designed to include all the citizens of EU member states [who are] outside their own countries but have the right to vote,” he said. These people are here to stay – the British or Romanians in Spain, the French and Poles in Britain – and the party that gets out and organises all of this could find the votes that mean the difference between winning or losing.”

Flying the flag

— Up to 1 million Britons are thought to live in Spain for part or all of the year

— Of those, 270,000 were registered to vote in January 2006, up nearly one fifth on the previous year

— As EU citizens, Britons are eligible to vote in Spanish local and European elections. However, they cannot vote in national or regional polls

— British votes are credited with having decided local elections in Majorca and Alicante

— San Fulgencio, in Alicante province, has the highest number of foreigners in Spain. Three quarters of its residents are non-Spanish, mostly from the UK

Sources: Barclays, UK Embassy, Spanish National Statistics Institute, Times database

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