Labour has revealed desperate holiday makers are paying the price for government incompetence, as passport delays continue to plague families.

Due to the chaos in the Home Office, people are being told that if they want to expedite their passport, then they can pay an extra £66 per passport – but with no guarantee that their passport would be returned in time.

Desperate constituents have contacted Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh MP for assistance.

One constituent, Daniella applied for her passport at the beginning of March because she was due to go on her honeymoon in June. She waited more than 12 weeks for her passport, even calling the Passport Office on her wedding day – she missed her honeymoon. She’s now rebooked her honeymoon and is still waiting for her passport.

Commenting Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh MP said:

“From processing passports to getting people through airports, this hapless Tory government are so mired in scandal and chaos they can’t even get the basics right.

“People are having to wait more than 10 weeks and now the government are fleecing people out of their hard-earned cash, just to get their passport fast-tracked – with no cast iron guarantee that they will still get it back in time.”

“This is more evidence that desperate holiday makers are paying the price for this shambolic government.”

• My team and I are doing everything we can to help people and ensure that they do not miss out on holidays and even school trips. I helped a resident whose child was due to go to Spain on a school trip. She had waited ten weeks for her passport to be told that her passport had been printed five days before her child was due to fly out. I chased the passport office the day before the trip to find out where the passport was, to be told that it hadn’t even been posted, despite it being printed and knowing the urgency of the case.
• Only due to the tenacity of my team, the child’s parent and the helpful nature of FedEx, did we manage to track down the passport, and the child was able to join her friends on the trip.