Covid-19: Repatriation of UK Nationals

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Thursday 30th April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for repeating the Statement. First, I thank him and all the FCO staff for their tireless efforts to support those stranded. I know from the cases I have referred and raised how committed they have been to help, and it has been much appreciated. However, it is difficult to fully grasp the scale of the repatriation still required. Even if we consider only those who have reached out to their MPs, the issue is clearly an enormous one.

There used to be a system for recording data on UK citizens abroad, but it was scrapped. Last month, in questions to James Duddridge, my honourable friend Stephen Doughty asked that, at the very least, medical or vulnerable cases should be recorded immediately, so that they could be prioritised at a later stage when repatriation started. Sadly, that did not happen. Can the noble Lord confirm that the FCO is now fully recording numbers, and will he publish these at regular intervals, so that we can better understand progress? In the absence of data at present, is he able to estimate how many UK nationals are currently stranded abroad, or is the 57,500 estimate from Monday still applicable?

The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee reported yesterday that it has been conducting a survey asking people about their experiences of being repatriated to the UK. The main issue it found is the difficulty some people encountered with communications when they were abroad, or the inability to receive communications, with one problem area being the High Commission in India. What is the FCO doing to address this issue, both in the short and the long term?

The announcement that 19,000 people have been brought back on 93 charter flights is welcome, but Germany, for example, had repatriated 60,000 citizens on 240 charter flights by early April. I appreciate that the noble Lord will be keen to stress that more than a million have returned to the UK on commercial routes, but when we consider IATA’s estimate that air traffic is currently down by 90% over Europe, it is clear that we can no longer rely on commercial flights. Will the Minister therefore commit his Government to urgently scale-up the number of chartered flights available? In response to reports of UK nationals being priced out by the cost of flights home, can he offer an update on the recent steps taken to remove that financial barrier?

Many UK nationals have been unable to travel to the airports which are still operating, due to either ill health or problems with internal travel, and so require consular support to help them in this journey. The Foreign Office must be equipped and prepared to support any UK national abroad in any aspect of their return home. I welcome what the Minister said about that support, but we need to address the issue of isolated people.

When UK nationals arrive home, it cannot be considered “job done”. If the Government are to contain the virus, there must be rigorous testing, tracing and isolation. It is therefore regrettable that the Government have yet to confirm any intentions to test or quarantine arrivals to the UK, despite press reports suggesting that such plans are in the pipeline. Can the Minister therefore confirm whether UK nationals, and others, will be asked to quarantine on arrival in the UK and, if so, for how long? Can he also confirm whether the Government will introduce testing of those arriving in the UK?

Finally, I very much welcome the pledge of support to Gavi. I hope that the Minister will be able to advise noble Lords what that pledge means for encouraging others; we do need more. I also welcome the commitment to, and investment in, CEPI. On Tuesday, I met its chief executive in a seminar, and I welcome its efforts to establish a vaccine. However, time is short, and action is necessary now.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord for repeating the Statement. I welcome the financial contributions to Gavi, the WHO and others, whose efforts are clearly vital in this crisis. As we know, their work saves lives. I also welcome the contribution to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, something which no Government after this must neglect. I pay tribute to the huge amount of work undertaken by the FCO, DfID and our embassies and high commissions during this crisis. However, we seem to be behind other countries in getting people home.

On 27 March, the EU had brought home half a million citizens. The United Kingdom chartered six flights for 1,000 British citizens through the EU crisis scheme; Germany chartered over 100 flights for over 20,000 German citizens. On 1 April, the Independent reported that Air France had flown more than 200 rescue missions but that

“the UK has yet to reach double figures in government-sponsored repatriation flights.”


By mid-April, only 5,000 out of 20,000 UK citizens in India had been brought back. Why did we lag so far behind our EU colleagues? The Government emphasised —and still do—that they were working with other countries, yet we seemed particularly unwilling to work with our EU colleagues. Why was that? Looking at where we are now, can the Minister answer the question from the noble Lord, Lord Collins: how many more people need to be brought home?

The Minister mentioned Nigeria in the Statement. I am sure he will know that there has been a surge of deaths in Kano state, an indication that coronavirus may be more widespread there than the Nigerian authorities are admitting. Are we making quarantine plans for those who come back from Nigeria?

The Minister mentioned that we have tripled our capacity in consular centres. That is obviously welcome, but we have brought home many diplomats and their families from countries with weak health systems. Are we working jointly with the EU to maximise our capacity? There have been many complaints about inadequate capacity and communication.

The Minister mentioned PPE. Again, we all knew from reports on Twitter, if nowhere else, that the United Kingdom had been invited to join the original EU scheme. No one can say that we did not know about it. So why did we not? The Minister will know that the Government’s latest Statement on this is not persuasive.

However, I am very glad to hear that we intend to act globally. Some countries appear to be using the cover of this crisis. Some are taking authoritarian measures. In Hong Kong, human rights campaigners such as the esteemed lawyer Martin Lee have been arrested. What will we do to challenge these actions? Israel has just formed a coalition Government who may now plan to annex the Occupied Territories. Can the Minister assure us that we will make it plain that this is contrary to international law and will be resisted? I look forward to the Minister’s response.