Oral Answers to Questions

Dan Carden Excerpts

Monday 11th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) (Con)]

What diplomatic steps he is taking to help provide financial support to British nationals stranded overseas as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

[Dan Carden (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)]

What recent steps he has taken to repatriate (a) British citizens and (b) UK residents overseas during the covid-19 pandemic.

[Mike Hill (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government's response to British citizens stranded overseas as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dominic Raab]

The Philippines has been a challenge, but I can reassure my hon. Friend that we managed to secure the return of over 600 British nationals on UK charter flights in April. I spoke to Foreign Minister Locsin at the end of March to secure those April flights. My hon. Friend will know that the Government of the Philippines suspended commercial flights earlier this month. They have resumed today. On the financial support that she referred to, in exceptional circumstances, as a last resort, there are loans available to enable UK nationals to return home on flights.

[Dan Carden [V]]

It is now clear that other European countries used emergency repatriation flights in parallel with commercial options to much greater success. The German Government chartered 30 times more of these flights by April than the UK Government, so it was the Foreign Secretary’s decision early on to rely almost solely on commercial options to get people home that left so many British citizens stranded abroad for so long. So will he publish the official advice that he received on his decision, which led to so many British citizens being stranded abroad for so long?