Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK is looking at ‘all options’ to support British people stranded in the Middle East, adding: “We want to ensure that they can return home as swiftly and safely as possible.”
But, in an update to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon (2 March), he warned the Middle East situation is ‘rapidly developing’.
About 102,000 British nationals in the Middle East have registered their presence with the UK Government following retaliatory strikes as a result of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that started on Friday evening, causing airspace to close and flights to be grounded.
He told the Commons there are about 300,000 British citizens in Gulf countries, where much of the airspace is closed. Many of those are holidaymakers, transiting passengers or business travellers.
In response to a question by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, Sir Keir said this afternoon: “I can assure her we are working at speed with our partners in the region to return people as safely and swiftly as possible.” He added he was ‘happy to update’ as the contingency plan progressed.
He said: “Airspace remains closed. The situation on the ground may remain challenging for some time. We are sending rapid deployment teams and are in close contact with the travel industry.”
It’s reported Emirates, flydubai and Etihad Airways will resume a limited number of flights this afternoon, mainly to help repatriate stranded passengers. At least one repatriation flight has taken off today to London.
