Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also accused Iran of attempting to ‘hijack the global economy’ as the conflict hits oil prices and pushes up the cost of living at home
The number of British nationals who have fled the Middle East war is expected to pass 100,000 today, the UK’s Foreign Secretary has said.
In a Commons statement, Yvette Cooper told MPs more than 300,000 had registered their presence in the region since the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran.
She said: “At the outset of this crisis, more than 300,000 British citizens were in the region and with the airstrikes started and airspace closed, many were stuck. And we’ve been working relentlessly since then to help them get home. This has been a complex task.”
Ms Cooper later added: “We’ve laid on additional Government charter flights from Muscat and from Dubai. And we estimate now that the number of British nationals who will have flown back from the region since the start of the war will today reach 100,000.”
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The Foreign Secretary also accused Tehran of attempting to “hijack the global economy” as the conflict hits oil prices and pushes up the cost of living at home.
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Earlier Downing Street said the Prime Minister had praised Rachel Reeves at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, after the Chancellor told ministers their work had “put the Government in a better place to weather a storm”.
The PM’s official spokesman said Ms Reeves had told Cabinet that “the Government had to govern for the world as it was, not as we would like it to be”.
Ms Cooper also used her statement today to announce £10million in extra aid for Lebanon, which she warned was on the brink of a conflict with “disastrous humanitarian consequences” after Israeli strikes.
She said: “I am extremely concerned the country is on the precipice of a widening conflict that risks disastrous humanitarian consequences.”
Ms Cooper called for “urgent” diplomatic talks to prevent more escalation. She condemned attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah who have fired rockets into northern Israel, said she supported the sovereignty of Lebanon and raised concerns about the impact of Israeli Defence Force attacks on Lebanon on civilians.
She said an estimated 1,000 people have been killed and one in seven Lebanese civilians have now been displaced from their homes.
“This scale of humanitarian displacement is unacceptable and risks devastating consequences. So this weekend I announced the UK would provide an additional £5 million of essential humanitarian aid.”
“Today I can announce a further £10 million of humanitarian support to provide emergency medical care, shelter and other life saving assistance in Lebanon and the region to prevent further displacement and instability that would risk escalating the regional problems with wider impact on other countries beyond the region too.”