Dominic Raab said there needs to be a "deep dive" into China's handling of coronavirus and warned: "We can't have business as usual."

The Foreign Secretary, who is First Secretary of State and acting Prime Minister, said: "We'll have to ask the hard questions about how it came about and how it couldn't have been stopped earlier."

His comments came after calls from senior Conservative MPs for the Government to "consider its relationship with China".

Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, said: "We are all paying the price for Beijing's decision to ignore the science, prioritise trade – and put the rest of the world's health at risk."

Asked on Thursday whether there would be a "reckoning" with China after the pandemic, Mr Raab said: "I think there absolutely needs to be a deep dive after the event review of the lessons, including on the outbreak of the virus, and I don't think we can flinch on that. It needs to be driven by the science."

"We had very good cooperation with the Chinese in relation to the return of UK nationals, and we have on procurement of things that we need, but there's no doubt we can't have business as usual after this crisis and we'll have to ask the hard questions about how it came about and how it couldn't have been stopped earlier."

Asked if that means tariffs or restrictions on Chinese investment in the UK, Mr Raab said the Government would "look very carefully, with international partners and the WHO and other international organisations, as to how this outbreak happened and what can be done to prevent it happening again."