Boris Johnson has threatened to “privatise the arse” out of the Passport Office after massive delays in processing applications threatened to ruin the summer for millions of holidaymakers.
Around five million people in Britain are believed to have delayed renewing their passports during the lockdown.
But the relaxation of strict restrictions on travelling has led to unprecedented demand, leaving the Home Office department floundering.
On Monday MPs were told that the Passport Office dealt with a million applications last month, compared with seven million a year before the pandemic.
During a cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister is understood to have told ministers he would call in bosses for urgent talks
He is said to be “horrified” at the backlog and believes the private sector could do a better job of meeting the 10-week target.
The boss of Heathrow Airport, John Holland-Kaye, called the delays "disappointing".
He told the Press Association: "Normally the Passport Office is very slick in processing passports. If it's not resolved, it is going to mean that people can't get away.
"After two years of lockdown, we need to make sure people can have a good holiday because many of them have vouchers that they've been saving up, they've got trips of a lifetime that they've put on hold, and we don't know when things might get closed down again.
"Making the most of the summer is vital."
On Monday, the SNP home affairs spokesman Stuart McDonald called it a “predictable mess”.
He told MPs: “All our constituents are having to cancel holidays, miss funerals, rearrange visits, with even a new 10-week target routinely being failed.
“What will be done to avoid this predictable mess getting worse? And can we be assured that the 10-week target will not be lengthened further as we approach the summer?”
Home Office minister Kevin Foster said: “We don’t have any intention to further extend that standard.
“We are at the moment processing most passports well within it, but we would advise people this is a very, virtually unprecedented surge in demand, and if people are planning to travel this summer we would advise them to get their application in as soon as possible.”
Conservative MP Simon Hoare described the backlog as “unprecedented, true, but foreseeable, absolutely”.
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