The Labour opposition has accused the UK government of not undertaking the necessary actions to help the Egyptian revolution, saying Egyptians are receiving only words not actual support from the UK.

“The government could help the strong progressive forces in Egypt,” Andy Slaughter, shadow minister for justice, told Ahram Online.

Slaughter is well-known for strongly criticising the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government way of dealing with Egyptian assets and the extradition of former regime figures.

“Despite repeated attempts, I have been unable to get either the Foreign Office or the Home Office to confirm what action they are taking,” he said in a recent House of Commons debate. He told Ahram Online that the UK needs to take a strong economic and political interest in what is happening in Egypt.

“One easy thing that the government could do to support the progressive forces in Egypt would be to cooperate in the extradition of criminals from the Mubarak regime who are walking about freely in London, and in the freezing of hundreds of millions of pounds of their assets in Britain," he said.

The UK government did not comment on the Egyptian request to extradite Dr Youssef Boutros Ghali, former Egyptian finance minister  who fled to the UK during the Egyptian revolution. London said it had frozen £85 million worth of Egyptian assets.

"Switzerland froze the assets of the Mubarak family within hours of his standing down, but it took us about six weeks," Slaughter said.  

The UK government says it continues to support the Arab Spring, in order to achieve democratic transformation in the region. However, Slaughter argues that his government is not doing enough to help Arab countries, both economically and politically.

“I very much appreciated what the foreign secretary said about the government’s continuing support for, and confidence in, the Arab Spring, but they need to go further than words,” he added.

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