Covid-19

Alyn Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend, who makes a number of important points. We are liaising with tour operators, insurance companies and, of course, airlines, and we will convey the message that he proposed about making sure that their advice is as transparent as possible. That needs to be done in real time, and I shall certainly consider further the flexibility that he suggested in relation to visas.

[Alyn Smith (Stirling) (SNP)]

Now is a time in which we should be seen to work together and, indeed, work together. I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of the statement. Now is the time for us to eschew party political point scoring.

We on these Benches support the changes, and we support the statement. I should also like to record our appreciation of and solidarity with the hard-working FCO staff worldwide, who are doing a very tough job in very tough times. They themselves have families and, indeed, some of them have respiratory conditions. We give them our support.

We support the statement as far as it goes, but I urge the Foreign Secretary—perhaps this is a discussion that he needs to have with the Chancellor, and I am conscious that there is a statement later about that—to go further. His statement did not deal with the point about insurance at all. For Scots and Brits abroad who are stuck and want to get back, and are looking to find a way to do so, the biggest practical help that we can offer right now is to speak to insurance companies, because their insurance is uppermost in their mind. Colleagues will be aware of the statement this morning from Sir Charles Bean of the Office for Budget Responsibility:

“You need the state to be there as the insurer of last resort against what is effectively an act of God. The state surely has a role. Big early action is surely better than half-hearted action that is late.”

We could not agree more. The Chancellor is making a statement later, but insurance is the biggest priority for our nationals who are overseas and want to get back. I urge the Secretary of State to have a full discussion with the Chancellor on that point. The state needs to step in to get our people home.

[Dominic Raab]

I particularly welcome the bipartisan tone that the hon. Gentleman has taken. I thank him for welcoming the statement and particularly for recognising and paying tribute to the consular staff and wider FCO teams who, in very difficult circumstances—not least given the advice that we in Government have given—are doing a tremendous job.

The hon. Gentleman asked about insurance companies. Obviously, they take their lead, at least to some degree, from the travel advice changes. One of the important things for the FCO to do is to give clear and decisive travel advice. That is one of the benefits of the statement that we have made today.

I certainly take on board the hon. Gentleman’s comments about working with the Secretary of State for Transport and the Chancellor to make sure that we provide support to the airline sector, which is not only important for jobs—we also need it to help get UK nationals home. For the reasons I gave in my statement, we want to allow them to do that through normal commercial means.