Latest news with #DamePritiPatel
BBC News
19-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Priti Patel calls on the government to repatriate Britons in Israel
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel has called on the UK government to offer repatriation flights to British nationals who want to leave Israel. Dame Priti told the BBC there are "thousands upon thousands" of Britons in Israel, adding that the government's response so far is "not sufficient".British nationals in the country are facing difficulties getting to the UK, with the airspace closed due to Israel's conflict with Iran. The BBC has contacted the Foreign Office for if she would offer the US military support if it attacked Iran, Dame Priti said she would not speculate but she would support necessary action if required to defend the UK and its citizens. It comes as Foreign Secretary David Lammy is set to meet his US counterpart in Washington after Donald Trump said he was mulling whether to join Israeli strikes against on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Dame Priti pointed out that embassy staff have been evacuated from Israel."There are thousands upon thousands of British nationals in Israel and currently the government response is not sufficient," she said. "There are [phone] numbers being put up for families to call and that is simply not good enough."We do know embassy personnel are being evacuated. And if they can do that for embassy staff then clearly additional facilities must be extended to British nationals in Israel."Dame Priti added other countries were offering air, sea and land options. US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Washington was working to get military, commercial, charter flights and cruise ships for evacuation. Dame Priti's call for repatriation flights comes after the Foreign Office issued advice on Sunday against all travel to nationals currently in those areas have been told to register their presence via an online form and to follow the advice of local Foreign Office said international land border crossings with Jordan and Egypt remains open - with consular teams in place to provide assistance - while the embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem remains "fully staffed".On Wednesday, a "rapid deployment team" arrived in Jordan which the Foreign Office said would "boost our consular presence".Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire for days after air strikes, which Tel Aviv said were aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear officials have repeatedly said the country's nuclear programme is President Donald Trump has not publicly said whether the US will join the Israeli strikes, but the BBC's US partner CBS reported he had approved attack plans for Iran although he has not made a final decision on whether to strike the country.
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Tories mock Keir Starmer's 'bogus' claim that his Brexit 'reset' deal will allow Brits to use e-gates at EU airports... as many already do
Sir Keir Starmer is being mocked for his 'bogus' claim that Brits will be allowed to use e-gates at EU airports as a result of his Brexit 'reset' deal with the EU. The Prime Minister boasted his agreement with Brussels, signed yesterday, would end 'huge queues' for holidaymakers at passport control in Europe. But bemused Tories have accused Sir Keir of a 'misleading' claim as they pointed out that many EU airports already allow Brits to use e-gates. They also echoed warnings that new border measures, due to be introduced by the EU later this year, could actually make airport queues worse for Brits. And they highlighted how decisions on allowing Brits to use e-gates will still be for individual EU countries - despite the PM's deal with the European Commission. Senior Tory MP Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, blasted Sir Keir's claim as 'just nonsense'. Conservative peer Lord David Frost, the UK's former Brexit negotiator, said the PM's agreement on e-gates 'really doesn't amount to anything'. Sir Keir hailed his e-gates agreement with the European Commission as one of the biggest wins of his 'reset' of the UK's post-Brexit relations with Brussels. The PM's wide-ranging deal also included an end to checks on British food exports to the continent, the linking of UK and EU electricity markets, and a new security pact. But Sir Keir, a Remainer who previously wanted a second EU referendum, bowed to French demands to extend access to UK fishing waters for EU fleets in exchange. Many airports in Spain and Portugal already allow Brits to use e-gates, as do those in Rome and Brussels. The PM has also acknowledged it will still be down to individual EU countries to decide whether to grant use of e-gates to UK travellers, despite his deal with Brussels. Meanwhile, experts have warned greater use of e-gates by Brits will make little difference unless it is accompanied by further work to ease the impact of new EU border measures. The EU's new Entry/Exit System (EES), which is set to belatedly come into force in October, will be an automated IT system for registering travellers from non-EU countries, including the UK, each time they cross a border into or out of the EU. It will replace the current manual stamping of passports for visitors to Europe's borderless Schengen area who are not nationals of EU or Schengen countries. Brits are likely to have their fingerprints and facial images taken the first time they cross a border into the EU, once the new system is in operation. There are fears this will cause huge queues at EU airports, as well as delays at Dover, Folkestone and London's St Pancras station, where French border checks are carried out before people embark on cross-Channel journeys. Dame Priti told GB News of the PM's e-gates agreement: 'The EU have a digital system coming in anyway... which is basically their equivalent to the digital border system that we put in place in the UK, because the world has gone digital. 'And yet, the Government and Starmer claim that this is some great win, and by the way, when that comes in in October, it will lead to queues because we have to provide our biometrics and lots of personal data. So this is just wrong. It's misleading.' Fellow Tory MP Sir David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, told the same channel: 'The e-gates are national decisions. What the EU says is there'll be no legal block. 'In other words, they won't intervene to make it worse. And when I've been to Europe the last couple of years, I've gone through the e-gates. It's a bogus thing.' Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: 'So the Government's talked quite a lot about e-gates. And that was another sort of punishment that was imposed on the UK after Brexit. 'It wasn't to do with Brexit itself, it was a consequence of the Commission and certain member states beliefs. But there are many countries that have access to e-gates. 'Indeed, some countries already allow access for British people to e-gates. So the PM is falsely claiming that to be a benefit of the deal.' Industry minister Sarah Jones this morning declined to promise that Brits will experience shorter passport queues across the EU this summer. She told LBC: 'We've swept away any barriers to doing this. There is no legal reason why companies won't agree. 'I can't give you a guarantee on exact timings, because there is infrastructure that, of course, all our airports will have to put in place.'
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Sir Keir Starmer warned he risks Brexit vote betrayal if he agrees new deal to put the UK back under EU control in new 'Surrender Summit'
Keir Starmer was last night warned he would betray Brexit if he agreed a deal that put the UK back under the control of the EU. The Prime Minister is today set to sign an agreement at what has been dubbed his 'Surrender Summit' that will mean Britain must once more follow EU laws and abide by its judges' rulings. He is also poised to hand millions of young Europeans the right to live, study and work here for up to three years, risking his pledge to cut migration. And the PM – who backed Remain then campaigned for a second referendum to undo the Leave vote – is expected to 'sell out' Britain's fishermen by allowing French boats continued access to UK coastal waters. Talks were going down to the wire last night after the EU made surprise 11th-hour demands for the fishing rights to last a decade or more. In return, checks on lorries taking food to the continent would be lifted. Defence firms will gain access to a £126 billion EU-wide weapons fund – but British taxpayers face having to pay millions for the privilege. As the wrangling continued over the 'reset' deal to be unveiled at London 's Lancaster House, the PM was urged not to give in to the EU's demands or give up the Brexit freedoms that 17.4 million voted for. Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel told the Mail: 'Labour's great Brexit betrayal consists of them backsliding on our freedoms and hard-won sovereignty. Britain needs Starmer to hold strong against the EU's brinkmanship, grow a spine and for once, put our national interest first and not concede to the demands of Brussels.' Writing in this newspaper, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said the expected agreement to abide by EU food standards 'would be a betrayal of the Brexit vote, pure and simple'. The Tories also urged Sir Keir not to cave in to French demands for long-term access to UK waters for European trawlers, and keep an exclusive access to a zone around the coast for British fishermen. Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said: 'We are deeply concerned by the reports that Labour looks to surrender our fishing rights to the EU at their summit, and that is why we are today setting out our red lines for any deal. 'The Conservatives have always stood up for our coastal communities, and our fishing industries. Labour must not throw our fishing rights overboard in their desperation to bail out their failing fiscal policies.' Reform leader Nigel Farage told the Mail: 'Opening up our borders to millions of people in the EU after Starmer's speech last Monday will make Red Wall voters doubt Labour even more. It's clear Labour can't be trusted to secure our borders. The idea of British soldiers under an EU flag will be hated in the Red Wall too. This is a surrender deal by Starmer.' Sir Keir even faced a backlash from his own MPs who fear voters in the Red Wall will be angered by the expected plan to set up a youth mobility scheme. Jo White, MP for Bassetlaw and head of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, told The Daily Telegraph: 'We tighten immigration with one hand and potentially loosen the strings with the other.' Reform leader Nigel Farage told the Mail: 'Opening up our borders to millions of people in the EU after Starmer's speech last Monday will make Red Wall voters doubt Labour even more. It's clear Labour can't be trusted to secure our borders. This is a surrender deal by Starmer' She added: 'If this just becomes a way of overseas kids filling the low-paid job vacancies in London rather than looking to see how young people from areas like mine could be opened up to opportunities and experiences that they would never have otherwise dreamed of, then I would really question the value of it.' Veteran Labour MP Graham Stringer said accepting EU rules on food 'completely undermines the whole reason for being out' and is 'definitely a betrayal'. In a round of interviews yesterday morning as talks continued, Britain's lead negotiator Nick Thomas-Symonds admitted the UK would have to accept EU rules on food standards as part of a deal to cut red tape for exporters. Under so-called dynamic alignment, EU laws would have to be placed on the UK statute book again and Britain would again be placed under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. Cabinet Office minister Mr Thomas-Symonds told the BBC: 'We don't come at this from an ideological perspective, we come from a practical perspective. Where it is in our national interest to align on common standards to make sure we get far easier trade... businesses that frankly have had to stop trading with the EU because of the red tape, can start trading with the EU again.' He also failed to confirm that there would be a cap on the youth mobility scheme demanded by Brussels, raising the prospect of millions of young adults moving to Britain to flee high unemployment on the continent. He would say only that the scheme would be 'smart and controlled', adding: 'Anything that was agreed on youth mobility – which by the way would be opportunities for young British people to experience different cultures, to travel and work – would be consistent with the objective of the migration White Paper, which is to bring the level of net migration down.' Sources said last night that outstanding issues remained on both sides and conversations would continue overnight.
