ROME - The British Ambassador to Italy, Jill Morris, has pledged that “there will be no more cases of this kind,” in response to the 12 Italians that in the last few weeks have been detained at the UK border and deported for not having the appropriate visa.

  Following the UK’s departure from the EU in January there has been much outrage throughout Europe over the treatment of EU citizens trying to get into the UK, with several kept in immigrant detention centres, not being allowed to contact their families before being put on a flight home.

  Speaking during a hearing at the Chamber of Deputies’ Foreign Affairs Committee, Jill Morris said, “we absolutely recognise the worries these cases have caused.

  “To explain the situation in general, usually when someone shows up at the border declaring that they want to work but they don’t have a visa, the procedure is simple: the person stays at the airport and then returns to the country of origin with the first flight. Unfortunately given the Covid situation, with the very reduced number of flights and also the requirement of tests, the situation has changed."

  But she assured the Committee that the British "government reacted very quickly, and has now changed the rules. It has changed the approach because we want to avoid these cases, we do not want to see more of these situations, we want to prevent citizens from being detained. So the government changed its approach, made it clear to border officials that they have to allow these people to stay, stay with friends and family while they organise their return to their country of origin.”

ol