Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

My deepest sympathies are with the Italian people and everyone affected by the terrible earthquake that struck central Italy. The British Government has offered any assistance that we can to help with the recovery effort and I have spoken with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni to express my condolences personally.

As the scale of the disaster has become clearer we now know that a number of British nationals have been affected. British Embassy staff are in the region providing consular support, and we have deployed additional staff to support this effort.

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