Boris Johnson has said MPs should consider laws to crackdown on black market sellers profiteering from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Prime Minister said that the government had previously outlawed people trying to cash in on crises – and MPs should maybe look again.
It comes after reports of panic buying have emerged across the country in the last two weeks.
Tory MP Alexander Stafford said he had seen evidence of people raising the price of baby milk, toilet roll, hand sanitiser online.
He called on Mr Johnson to “stamp out the disgusting scourge of black market profiteering”.
Mr Johnson replied: “Profiteering is something we should be looking at from a legislative point of view in this house as has happened before in this country.
“The supermarkets do have adequate supplies. Our supply chains, as well my friend knows, are very good.
“We’ve relaxed delivery hours, but it is very, very important that everybody in their shopping acts reasonably, and considerably for other people.”
(Image: PRU/AFP via Getty Images)
It came during a PMQs which saw outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn take on Mr Johnson’s reponse to the crisis before.
Mr Corbyn said: “The Healthcare Supply Association has been forced to use Twitter to ask DIY shops to donate protective equipment to NHS staff.
“This is an appalling situation. When will NHS staff, social care staff and community nurses… get the personal protective equipment they absolutely desperately need?”
He added despite the government’s pledge to end evictions for three months, “some renters will be getting eviction notices as early as next week.”
Claiming Mr Johnson “appears to have gone back on his word”, he called for a stronger law to “finally absolutely ban evictions for 6 months.”
He said more measures must be announced for the self-employed, who are being forced to claim Universal Credit with online queues of tens of thousands of people.
And he said: “Many British people abroad feel a bit abandoned by the government with many fast running out of medicines.
“These British citizens have a right to turn to their own government for help. Hour long delays on phone calls are not acceptable. They feel abandoned.”
Mr Corbyn demanded extra resources for the DWP – after online queues saw 110,000 people trying to verify their identity to get Universal Credit.
He said one self-employed worker had “no other option” but to get on the Tube and go to work despite showing symptoms.
“His site had not been closed down. He had no other source of income to feed his family,” Mr Corbyn said at PMQs.
Labour’s leader said many people live “hand to mouth” and Britain’s 5million self-employed need extra help urgently.
“Why has it taken so long?” he asked. He said the DWP must get money to people who’ve “got to feed the kids, got to pay the rent, got to survive somehow.”
Mr Johnson promised “more in the next couple of days” for the self-employed.
And he said he agreed with Mr Corbyn that Britain would “come through this experience changed and changed for the better.”
“We will get this country through this crisis with these exceptional steps,” he said.
“We will do whatever it takes to get our country through it together. We will beat it together.”
“The most important advice I can give him as he retires to his … I’m delighted to hear he’s not retiring and that will be warmly welcomed by his successor!
“The most important thing we can all do is stay at home to protect our NHS and to save many thousands of lives.”
Jeremy Corbyn finished his final PMQs question by lashing out at the PM over coronavirus.
He said: “We need clarity, not confusion. We need delivery not dither.
“This crisis shows us how deeply we depend on each other.
“At a time of crisis no one is an island. No one is self made.
“The wellbeing of the wealthiest corporate chief executive depends on the outsourced worker cleaning their office.
“At times like this we have to recognise the value of each other and the strength of a society that cares for each other and cares for all.”
Boris Johnson said: “Sacrifice is inevitable and it is necessary.
“But the more we follow the advice of the government, the more strictly we obey the measures we have put in place, the swifter and more surely this country will come back from the current crisis, the better we will recover.”
