Contributions
1,991 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCovid-19The Africa Minister has already made it clear that he will follow up on all those cases, so we will certainly look at the case of the hon. Lady’s constituents. I am writing to all…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I understand the point the hon. Gentleman raises. It is a fair question, but we have taken that position, first, because we are following the scientific advice that applies to the…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I totally understand the point the hon. Gentleman makes. The obvious thing is to keep following the Government’s medical advice and, in relation to devolved matters, the advice…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19We will of course look very carefully at any case. The hon. Gentleman has written to me all about constituents in Austria. There is no doubt that the Foreign Office, as with the…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I will of course look at the case of the hon. Gentleman’s constituent very carefully—a number of other Moroccan cases have been raised—and get back to him with as clear a steer as…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I thank the hon. Lady for the constructive and detailed way in which she raised the case of her constituent, and I am happy to look at such cases. The Under-Secretary of State for…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I am sure the hon. Gentleman would never put his ideological desire to stay in the EU ahead of the practical diplomacy that we face in the months ahead. I understand why he has…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I reassure my hon. Friend that Foreign Office staff are working round the clock and around weekends, but in some of those countries there is an issue about their own personal…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19The Government are very conscious of the challenge facing the airline industry and its related sectors, and the Foreign Office must ensure that it takes what I think the hon.…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we must learn from and try to understand more about covid-19 and what its impact will be in the UK, based on the experience that we are…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19My hon. Friend is right to pay tribute to Professor Whitty, and along with Sir Patrick Vallance we have some of the finest expert evidence in the world coming to us. On the…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19The hon. Gentleman is right to note that different countries are acting in different ways, and as he says, some of that is because they are at different stages of the peak and…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I thank my hon. Friend for the dual way in which he asked an excellent question, and also managed subtly to leverage in the whole question of Brexit phase 2 negotiations. He will…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19Of course, we have foreign nationals here who are in very similar positions to the ones that UK nationals themselves are in around the world. We will of course look at those cases…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I thank my hon. Friend, and of course we will look at those cases. In areas where we do not have a large or substantial consular presence, we are obviously going to have to…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Just to be clear, when we speak to any of our Iranian interlocutors, we raise every case of dual nationals—or, indeed, the British Council…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I will not give legal advice or commercial advice to either the operators or the insurers, but I can tell my hon. Friend that the Transport Secretary has engaged very closely with…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19The hon. Lady raises a really important point. On the one hand, we do want commercial airlines to fly, but they are clearly under severe financial pressure, given the domestic…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19I reassure the hon. Lady that, in both the cases she referred to, we are actively looking at the solutions we can provide for UK nationals. She is right to raise the issue of…17 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19We 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…17 Mar 2020