Covid-19

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank the hon. Lady. It is very distressing, and as MPs we obviously want to do everything we can. I am very happy to look at that case, and I will ask the Minister for Europe to take a close look. We will, of course, continue to liaise with the Turkish authorities and with as many as possible of the airlines that go to Istanbul, or indeed to Ankara, to try to make sure that people do not find themselves in that vulnerable position.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

A constituent of mine has been in touch about his grandparents, Alan and Beatrice. Beatrice is 86 and Alan is 89, and they are trapped on board the Silver Shadow cruise ship, which is quarantined off Recife in Brazil. May I appeal to the Foreign Secretary for his help to get Alan and Beatrice home?

[Dominic Raab]

We have been following the course of the Silver Shadow very carefully. I can tell my right hon. Friend that there are 300 passengers on board, of whom about 120 are British nationals—that goes to my earlier point about the need for an international team effort. Royal Caribbean, the parent company of the ship, has indicated that it will offer at least three charter flights to get passengers home—one to the UK, one to the US and one to Canada, and possibly also one to Australia. That gives my right hon. Friend a sense of not just the challenge we face, but how we are straining every sinew to deal with constituents such as her own.