Daily Times

More than 50 British members of parliament (MP) have called on the government to urgently arrange Royal Air Force and direct chartered flights to help repatriate British nationals from across the world amidst COVID-19 pandemic. They said flight cancellations and inadequate support from the government have left thousands of people who call the UK home stranded abroad.

In a letter to the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Roob, Labour MP for Bradford East & Shadow Justice Minister Imran Hussain supported by more than 50 MP’s have expressed concerns about the efforts of the UK government and foreign office to bring back British nationals and residents who are still stranded abroad.

The MPs criticising the role of UK’s foreign office, said that it has been at the head of a disjointed, uncoordinated and inadequate effort to repatriate the thousands of British national, leaving them stressed, anxious and even terrified that they will find themselves trapped in countries under lockdown with no way of return and no means of supporting themselves.

The signatory of the letter includes Jeremy Corbyn MP, ex- leader of Opposition and Labour party and other MPs from across the UK, while comparing UK with the other countries where they have would have taken a strong lead in repatriating their own citizens, they lamented UK has instead “foolishly” and unnecessarily chosen to rely almost entirely on commercial flights operated by private companies seeking to make a profit and take advantage of desperate travellers.

The group of MPs said that even within the Foreign Office’s own network of Embassies and High Commissions there has been a considerable disparity in their approach, with no clear evidence of coordination from Minister or Senior officials. Whilst accepting that work on such a scale will always present challenges to the government, the MPs blames that leadership has been lacking from the start and it seems that the goal has not been to return British nationals home safely and quickly as possible but to create the minimum of fuss and work for the Foreign Office.

The letter read as a result of Foreign office, High Commissions and Embassies have been unable to adopt and overcome changing situation within other countries and the UK failed to immediately arranged chartered flights as soon as issues emerged, leaving Britons stranded through no fault of their own. The Foreign Office prides itself on its consular network and diplomatic reach, but when we cannot look after our own citizens abroad whilst other countries demonstrated better examples, they added.

The MPs worn that thousand still stranded abroad, unable to access or afford to commercial flights that the government till them to take, we are clear that the Foreign Office and the UK government cannot wait any longer for the situation to resolve itself. They must make full use of the logistic and transport capabilities of the Royal Air Force and directly charter flights elsewhere necessary, not direct people to commercial flights.

The MPs also urged the Prime Minister to ensure that those who have taken expensive commercial flights options in the line with the government advice are suitably recompensed if they have been left out of pockets.

Similarly, Emily Thornberry MP has said that tens of thousands of British nationals are still stranded in Pakistan. There is a growing anger that the UK’s £75 million has resulted in charter flights to Peru, India, South Africa and Nepal but not to Pakistan where the highest numbers of Brits are stranded. Thornberry also expressed “concern that the high commission in Pakistan is not adopting examples of best practice that we have seen from other embassies around the world”

British High Commission Islamabad’s director of communication has been approached for comment but no reply received. However, British High Commissioner in Islamabad Dr Christian Turner in his tweet on Tuesday said that 2 plans have gone today from Islamabad and Karachi with 600 on board. He hoped that around 4000 Britons would fly back home by the end of this week.

While sources at British Embassy UAE told Daily Times all those British nationals and residents in UAE who wanted to return home have been repatriated. They further said that British Ambassador in UAE Patrick Moody have seen off the last group of over 300 British nationals on Saturday who left for their home on a special flight arranged by the British officials in partnership with emirates authorities and airline.