“GLARING gaps” in the government’s scheme to rapidly relocate Afghan interpreters to Britain could result in over 1,000 vulnerable people being left stranded, a campaigner has warned. 

Ministers have pledged to resettle over 3,000 Afghans who worked for the British military and government due to fears for their safety when occupying troops leave the country. 

But former soldier Ed Aitken, founder of the Sulha Alliance campaign group, warned that around a third could have difficulty accessing the scheme. 

“We are pleased with where we are, but there are concerns there are some glaring gaps where there are going to be parts of this community who are left vulnerable and won’t be included under this policy,” Mr Aitken told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He said that about 1,010 staff, constituting a third of those employed, had been dismissed, so would not be eligible for relocation except on a case-by-case basis. 

The bar for rejecting interpreters is also “low,” he warned, saying that minor offences can be used as a reason to exclude a person from the scheme. 

Launched earlier this year, the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy has already resettled more than 1,400 Afghans and their families, while hundreds more have received funding for education and training. 

The policy is being accelerated after Britain began pulling its troops out of Afghanistan last month, as did the United States, 20 years after the US-led invasion.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “As we withdraw our armed forces, it is only right we accelerate the relocation of those who may be at risk of reprisals.”