Home Secretary urged to help Scottish family's mother in Lebanon

Nadia and William McCullough have been married for 20 years

The Home Secretary has been urged to intervene to help the mother of a Scottish family who was blocked from a chartered evacuation flight from Lebanon.

Nadia Ayoub McCulloch and her children Thomas, 19, and Rebecca, 16, attempted to fly from Beirut to the UK last week as the conflict with Israel escalated.

Mrs McCulloch, 51, was turned away as she is a Lebanese national and does not have a UK visa. Her children flew without her.

SNP Perth and Kinross-shire MP, Pete Wishart, has written to Yvette Cooper asking that Mrs McCulloch's visa application be escalated "as a priority" so the family can be reunited but a Home Office spokeswoman said it had not been given "sufficient evidence" to investigate her claim.

Mrs McCulloch's Scottish husband, William, 62, is based in Iraq where he works with a humanitarian organisation.

He said he intended to travel back into Lebanon to try and help his wife leave the country.

Their children, who are believed to hold dual citizenship, successfully flew out of the country and are now staying with relatives in Lanarkshire.

Nadia Ayoub McCulloch was separated from her family when trying to leave Lebanon

Pete Wishart said he was approached by William McCulloch's sister to help in the case.

In his letter to the Home Secratary, he wrote: "Failure to grant Mrs McCulloch’s visa swiftly will leave her in an increasingly perilous situation.

"I am therefore writing to urge for her application to be escalated as a matter of utmost priority in order that she can travel to the safety of the UK as quickly as possible, and where she can be reunited with her family."

Wishart said the home secretary had a "moral duty" to accelerate the visa process.

He told BBC Scotland News: “The longer that Nadia is stuck there, the more danger she is placed in, and the more her loved ones will be fearing for her welfare, including her children who she has been separated from."

Israel has continued to launch attacks on Beirut

The Foreign Office has said it does not normally comment on individual cases.

A government spokesman said: "All non-British nationals requiring a visa will need to make an online visa application and submit their biometrics at a Visa Application Centre, prior to travel to the UK."

Spouses of British nationals were eligible to leave on the specially chartered flights but if they are not UK citizens, they must have a valid visa to stay in the UK for more than six months.

The crisis in the Middle East has escalated in recent weeks, with Israel targeting members of the Hezbollah group.

They have launched a ground invasion of Lebanon, while Iran has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel.

A Home Office spokeswoman added: “We understand this is a worrying time for many. The safety of British nationals in Lebanon is our top priority and we urge everyone to continue to follow our travel advice.

“All non-British nationals requiring a visa will need to make an online visa application and submit their biometrics at a Visa Application Centre, prior to travel to the UK.”