The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Former prime minister calls for G20 action to stop profiteering
Labour former prime minister Gordon Brown has demanded a clampdown on people trying to profiteer from the coronavirus outbreak.
Mr Brown has called for international action to stop people making excessive profits off the back of selling much-needed ventilators, testing kits and protective equipment.
He has urged the G20 group of industrialised nations to avoid a “dogeat-dog” bidding war for such supplies.
Mr Brown said: “With the healthcare crisis, the idea of individual self-isolation is now commonplace, but on the international stage, national self-isolation has taken off.
“In the post-cold War unipolar era, America acted multilaterally. Now, and in a multipolar era, America acts unilaterally, and aggressive America first, us-versus-them nationalism
– along with China first, India first, Russia first, Brazil first, and Turkey first – is going global. But even the most isolationist nations must know that it is not enough to stop coronavirus in one country: it has to be stopped in every country.
“The G20 should underwrite and speed up the concerted global effort to develop, manufacture and distribute vaccines and treatments.
“Almost simultaneously every nation also needs at scale, testing kits, ventilators, cleaning chemicals and protective equipment.
“So, in place of today’s dog-eatdog bidding wars that encourage profiteering, the G20 should come behind the WHO and Global Fund’s efforts to co-ordinate and vastly increase production and procurement of these key medical supplies and to build, over time, a global inventory, stockpile and workforce.”