A "toxic Tory decade of incompetence and indifference” has thrown the Passport Office into disarray, Labour claimed as ministers were told to apologise to the public for lengthy delays.
Latest Government figures show more than 35,000 people have been left waiting longer than 10 weeks to receive a new passport.
But the figures only cover the first three months of the year – January to the end of March 2022 – meaning many more UK travellers will have joined their ranks since then.
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The ECHO has previously reported how many are regularly forced to queue outside Liverpool's Passport Office for their documentation.
In the House of Commons this afternoon, Labour said the “shambolic state” of the Passport Office was an “example of the systemic failure” of the Government since 2010.
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said: “There are countless examples of the fact that the infrastructure that holds our country together is creaking and indeed in some cases is at breaking point and there can be no doubt that the frankly shambolic state of the Passport Office is an example of the systemic failure that has been designed and delivered by successive Conservative Governments since 2010.”
Mr Kinnock referred to a “toxic Tory decade of incompetence and indifference”. Holidaymakers, he said, were having to play “pre-flight bingo”, adding “welcome to backlog Britain”.
He said: “There should be an apology to people whose holidays have been wrecked, who’ve not been able to get to job appointments, who’ve not been able to get to funerals and weddings within the time frame that we are discussing today.”
Mr Kinnock argued ministers were “warned repeatedly about the possible backlog, but they failed to plan”.
He said: “The Government had two years to prepare for a spike in passport applications once travel restrictions were lifted.
"Ministers were warned repeatedly about the possible backlog, but they failed to plan and so they inevitably failed to deliver. Indeed the Government’s own data shows that the number of full-time HM Passport Office staff has dropped by 681 over past five years.
"After a really tough couple of years, British families deserved a well earned break, but thousands have missed out.”
Home Office minister Kevin Foster refused to apologise for the delays, saying: "We continue to work through a large amount of applications as we’ve said we advise customers to allow up to 10 weeks. However, the vast majority are dealt with well before that.
"We get through a million a month, which speaks volumes to where we are going and where people getting their passports, 98.5% within the advertised service standard.”
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