Business of the House

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The hon. Lady always makes the most important points in this House, and I always find myself in agreement with her. It is no different on this occasion; I will take her point up with colleagues immediately after this session.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

Many colleagues have constituents abroad, many of whom are desperate to get back home. When can we have a debate on price gouging and bring forward—perhaps in the emergency legislation—price gouging measures? Most airlines are trying to do their bit to help, but there are some examples of egregious price gouging preventing people from coming home. I think that British people might find it very difficult to swallow if the airlines wanted us to bail them out while at the same time they were hiking up prices for people who need to come back home.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend raises a sensible point. The Foreign Office is working closely with the airlines to ensure that people can be brought back home, and the Department for Transport is working closely with them as well. I would make a general point that goes back to what was said by the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard), which is that businesses are, in some cases, behaving very well. Businesses will want to maintain the support of the community in what they do, so, regardless of Government intervention, they would be well advised to maintain the good will of the British people.