British Airways and other airlines have been urged to lay on extra flights to bring home holidaymakers from crisis-torn Tunisia.
Shadow foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, speaking in the House of Commons, also suggested tour operators improve their refund policy in respect of Tunisia trips.
She accused the Foreign Office of being slow to change its travel advice and that British tourists had been told it was not necessary to leave, only to hear from their tour company that they were being brought home.
Cooper claimed travellers had been placed in “an alarming position” because the government was “slow off the mark” to respond to the crisis in the North African country.
But Foreign Office minister David Lidington said most of the British tourists remaining in Tunisia did not wish to leave and those who had wanted to go home had been able to “leave swiftly”.
He added that the government “had not been lax” in the way Cooper had described and that it would “look at any lessons that needed to be learnt”.
Lidington said that there were now about 1,000 British nationals remaining in Tunisia, after more than 3,000 on package holidays were repatriated over the weekend by operators.
There was “no indication” that Britons were being targeted by rioters or looters but that there was “always a chance” that tourists could get caught up in trouble, he said.
Anyone concerned about their safety should remain within their accommodation, Lidington added, as Tunisia’s interim leaders announced a new national unity government after the overthrow of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
BA operated its normal service between Tunis and Gatwick yesterday (Monday) but does not plan to put on any extra flights today.
There was still availability on its next flight to Gatwick which is due to arrive on Wednesday afternoon. BA said: “We are monitoring the situation in Tunisia carefully. We continue to operate flights to and from Tunis to help as many of our customers as possible.
“We would not operate a service unless we were confident that it was safe to do so. Customers who are booked to travel to or from Tunis in the next 72 hours can claim a full refund, rebook to a different date or to an alternative destination.”