Coronavirus: Up to 1 million Britons stranded abroad and many will be unable to return home, Raab warns
‘If they can stay safely in the countries where they are for a period, I think that’s a choice they will have to think very seriously about’
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Your support makes all the difference.Up to a million Britons may be stranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic and many will be unable to come home for a long time, Dominic Raab says.
The foreign secretary – who has faced criticism for insisting it is impossible for him to lay on repatriation flights – said the UK is facing a “massive, massive” challenge.
“We have anywhere between 300,000-400,000 British nationals travelling abroad to closer to a million,” Mr Raab told a committee of MPs.
“We don’t know for sure. There isn’t a register of Brits travelling abroad, but that is a massive, massive scale.”
Asked about their prospects for coming home, he admitted: “If they can stay safely in the countries where they are for a period, I think that’s a choice they will have to think very seriously about.”
Mr Raab revealed the Foreign Office is in a race against time to ensure hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers in Spain can return home before all its hotels close next Tuesday.
“We can’t guarantee that will happen,” he told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
“The assurance I have had from the foreign minister is that we won’t see Brits kicked out on the street – at least without alternative accommodation being provided.”
He also became the first government minister to suggest the vital COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow in November – billed as “the last chance to save the planet” – might not go ahead.
“I can’t give you a cast-iron guarantee – things are moving so quickly,” the committee was told.
Mr Raab also acknowledged the UK is considering even tougher travel restrictions by falling into line with the EU by banning all incomers from outside the bloc.
It was pointed out that travellers could reach France, for example, by arriving to Britain first, undermining Brussels’ restrictions.
Mr Raab said the issue was “under constant review”, but said, of the UK’s scientific advisers: “At least at this stage, this is not the advice they would give.”
The foreign secretary praised the Foreign Office’s consular service as it coped with “hundreds of thousands” of worried inquiries – including 28,000 calls in Malaga on Wednesday alone.
However, he was told that tourists stranded in Peru were being charged up to £4,000 to fly home on commercial flights.
Mr Raab suggested there were three categories of travellers abroad:
* Those in countries such as Spain – where there were “clear commercial routes” home and “the collaboration will be there”.
* “Less accessible countries” including Peru, Vietnam and Morocco – where the government was having to work to help firms get planes in.
* Cruise ships – where there were a “lot of Brits”, but an expectation that the 600 on the Braemar, docked in Cuba, would be “back today”.
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