Labour Party: Foreign Office Ministers response to Tunisia situation too slow – Cooper

Yvette Cooper MP, Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, said today during an Urgent Question in Parliament on the Tunisia situation:

“British people abroad at times of crisis depend upon clear advice and rapid action, yet the Government has been slow off the mark.

“A Foreign Office rapid deployment team was only sent yesterday. This is simply too slow as the need to help the more than 1,000 British nationals still in the country is still very real.

“The Government now needs to press the tour operators, as I have been, to address the plight of people who are still booked on holidays to Tunisia. We need to see moves to extend the scope of their refund packages. At the moment people who are booked with some operators to go to Tunisia after Wednesday are not included and need to be.

Even after the departure of President Ben Ali bringing to an end a repressive regime, the situation in Tunisia remains tense and uncertain. The ending of the authoritarian regime must be a turning point for a country that for too long denied the Tunisian people their basic democratic freedoms and economic opportunities. Tunisia needs free and fair democratic elections – and the EU should support that process to promote stability.”