Ten years of austerity economics have slashed national and local government capacity. I asked the Minister whether he thought these cuts had left our public services in a resilient position to face COVID and a cost of living crisis? He seemed to think they had!
Parliament TV:
Ten years of #austerity economics have slashed national and local government capacity. I asked the Minister whether he thought these cuts had left our public services in a resilient position to face #COVID and a cost of living crisis? He seemed to think they had! pic.twitter.com/e8LkBh9GbM
— Chi Onwurah ???? (@ChiOnwurah) June 29, 2022
HANSARD:
I thank the Chief Secretary for giving way. Is it his view that 10 years of austerity economics, which slashed the capacity of both central and local government to spend, left our Government’s public services with the resilience to meet the demands of the covid crisis, and the cost of living and inflation crisis?
Can I see some hard evidence not just rhetoric re passport delays….I sought 2 in the last 4 weeks and have already got them back. Maybe it is because we are good upstanding citizens of the UK we got processed quickly unlike those that continue to see delays?
Chi receives complaints about delays almost every day.
Reported in the Guardian: 14,000 members of the Facebook group passport chaos 2022,
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/09/uk-passport-delays-queue-uk-holiday
HM Passport Office
Processing times in the UK
Allow up to 10 weeks to receive your passport.
There is no backlog in passport processing as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, we are now seeing unprecedented demand as more than 5 million people delayed applying for passports during COVID-19 because of restrictions in international travel. Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) anticipate 9.5 million British passport applications will be made this year and in March 2022 alone, HMPO processed more than one million new passport applications, the highest output on record. In preparation for the demand for international travel returning, since April 2021 HMPO have been advising people to allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their British passport. This remains the case.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/passport-processing-times-and-unprecedented-levels-of-demand