Millions of Brits could see their summer holidays cancelled due to delays in processing new passports.
As many as five million holidaymakers are said to have delayed renewing their passport during the coronavirus pandemic.
People hoping to travel abroad should apply to renew outdated passports “as soon as possible” Home Office minister Kevin Foster has warned.
But the Commons heard of one woman who has waited more than five months to receive her daughter’s new passport, with services branded “either really very good or an absolute shambles”.
SNP home affairs spokesman Stuart C McDonald asked: “All our constituents are having to cancel holidays, miss funerals, rearrange visits, with even a new 10-week target routinely being failed.
“What will be done to avoid this predictable mess getting worse? And can we be assured that the 10-week target will not be lengthened further as we approach the summer?”
Conservative MP Simon Hoare described the passport backlog as “unprecedented, true, but foreseeable, absolutely”.
How long are passports taking to come back?
The North Dorset MP added: “I hear what the minister has said. Certainly my constituents are telling me their experience is either really very good or it is an absolute shambles.
“But I agree with what the member who raised the question in the first instance said – there needs to be a better interface between members of Parliament and the Passport Office when those constituents, either through family funeral reasons or for holiday or business reasons, are not getting through (and) are then being lied to by officials when they do get through.
“Something needs to be done to arrest this – and quickly.”
But Labour MP Stephanie Peacock, for Barnsley East, raised the case of a mother who submitted her daughter’s passport application in January – five months in advance of their holiday next week – but has yet to receive one.
Ms Peacock told MPs: “What is the minister doing to address the unacceptable delays in passport applications?”
Home Secretary Priti Patel said ministers would examine the case, noting: “That’s a very, very unusual delay. There must be a problem.”
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