Government ‘failed’ Brits left abroad

BRITISH citizens stranded abroad during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic were failed by the Government, an inquiry has found.

The Foreign Office was allocated £75 million to help people stuck in countries such as Pakistan and India to return home, but only £40 million was spent.

In a highly-critical report, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee said: “While no one would advocate waste, these funds were allocated to rescue British citizens and the amount unspent suggests that the lifelines that many needed were available but not used. We were given no explanation as to why the remaining £35 million wasn’t used to provide a better service for those UK citizens stranded abroad.”

The finding was welcomed by Black Country MP John Spellar (Lab Warley), who said a number of his constituents had been affected. Mr Spellar said: “I am pleased the Foreign Affairs Committee has exposed the shocking handling of repatriation

“My constituents experienced an appalling mixture of complacency, incompetence and indifference. It needed a huge effort to get the Foreign Office to recognise the scale of the problem.

“They need to be shaken up from top to bottom.”

Families were divided as the coronavirus pandemic led to flights being cancelled. Tens of thousands of Brits were stranded abroad in countries from Peru to India and Pakistan.

The Foreign Affairs Committee, an influential Parliamentary committee involving MPs from all parties, criticised the Foreign Office’s initial decision to depend on existing commercial flights to bring people home. Countries such as France and Germany were quicker to provide charter flights, which are flights chartered for a specific journey.