Breaking law is astonishing’
No-deal will be paradise for spivs, says Brown
A no-deal Brexit will make the UK a “paradise” for speculators, spivs and smugglers to make money out of medicine shortages, Gordon Brown will warn in a speech today.
The former prime minister says if the country crashes out of the EU without a deal, speculators will “cash in” by stockpiling food and medicines.
Mr Brown will urge Boris Johnson “to curb and punish speculators, spivs and smugglers profiteering from the miseries” when he addresses the annual conference of Scottish councils in St Andrews.
Arguing the UK is dependent on Europe for one million medical consignments a day and 30 per cent of our food supplies, Mr Brown will warn that profiteering from postbrexit problems “will ultimately affect millions of ordinary people across Britain”.
Mr Brown will tell the Cosla conference that the 31 October deadline could become “a spivs’ and speculators’ paradise”, adding: “With exactly three weeks to go to 31 October and a no-deal Brexit edging closer, it’s not just hedge funds that may be trying to cash in.
“Speculators are poised to swoop on stockpiles of medicines and food and to profit from a hit to the pound, and even from the sale of carbon credits originally designed to protect our environment. It is inevitable that we will see a return of ‘the spiv’, as speculation around food and medicine shortages and the falling pound are guaranteed to reward them handsomely.
“And even food is set become a plaything, with a combination of shortages, stockpiling and a fall in the pound making ruthless profiteering possible at the expense of food price rises for hard-pressed families.”.”