Foreign Office neglected Britons abroad after Covid-19 travel bans, says report

MPs say ‘cost-cutting’ to blame for government’s slowness to charter repatriation flights

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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) neglected British citizens stranded abroad during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak, failing to organise charter flights swiftly or communicate meaningfully with those marooned, a damning report by MPs has said.

Efforts to repatriate 1.3 million British nationals stranded overseas amid global travel bans, were too slow, too impersonal with “clear failings” in the government response, the foreign affairs committee concluded.

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