Christmas online orders and Christmas food

Farway

MrsStepford said:

There's a pandemic on and the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December. Supermarkets don't know how they will get fresh produce into the country from Spain and Netherlands. I would suggest also, that if you like Richmond sausages and Moy Park chicken, if you have the freezer space, stash some, because Northern Irish food will be under a new internal border.

That is just not true, free flow of goods between the mainland & NI is what all the row is about. Internal market bill, passed into law to prevent just such a problem should EU decide not to agree

The EU may decide to impose restrictions on free flow between Southern Ireland & NI but it will not affect any NI goods to UK mainland

od244051

Most loo roll sold in UK supermarkets is made in the north west (Warrington area?) and north Leicestershire

GaleSF63

It's all very well the shops being seen to worry about the  environment and not use plastic bags, but a bit hypocritical when you see how much unnecessary packaging they use on individual items. Circumstances have changed.  It would be easier and quicker for everyone if they would go back to using bags, as Tesco have done. They can stop again when it's practical. 

Mnoee

Tesco are back to the choice between plastic bags and not now. I have two full kitchen cupboards full from the period that they insisted on them. 

I don't find it takes me any longer as I have a whole bunch of reusable bags at the door that I pack it into in a logical order. If its bagged, I end up having to go through them all to check the dates and that everything is there and rearrange bags into how I pack them away (some veg lives in the fridge, I might freeze some meat, for example). Maybe the driver saves a few minutes with plastic bags, but the amount I have now is shocking. I really don't need more! 

MrsStepford

The politics..
Before we were in the EU, there was a border between Northern Ireland (British) and Republic of Ireland. The IRA and offshoots regularly blew up border posts etc. Joining the EU meant a border wasn't needed, as Customs rules were the same. The Good Friday Agreement is an international peace treaty, registered at the United Nations and both UK and ROI have to abide by it

We left the EU earlier this year. Border communities don't want an actual border back again, they want continued peace. The solution is that for Customs purposes (only) the island of Ireland is one island and the border is in the sea, between the island and UK. This was agreed by British govt and signed in 2019.

Practicalities... 
Because the border is in the sea, and because NI and ROI are being treated as one island for Customs purposes to avoid a border, there will be checks at ports. This will mean delays. Many Irish companies which used to send trucks over to Wales and drive through UK to Dover or Folkestone, are now putting them on ferries direct to France and Spain. There will be no probs exporting food from ROI to NI or for people in NI nipping over the border to buy stuff because euro rate is not yet 1 euro = £1 so they save money.

Moy Park chicken, Richmond sausages and Kerrygold butter will get caught up in delays. They will need customs paperwork, so UK customers may have to pay more, to cover that cost. Won't cost more in NI.

Presumably Aldi and Lidl can reconfigure and bring food in from France or ROI. Bit more difficult for British supermarkets who source from their UK warehouses. Some have said that if it gets too expensive, they will pull out of NI. 

A British seed company won't be able to sell seeds in NI unless it has EU certification. As a non EU country we can't get  EU certification. There will be no problem for people in NI to get seeds from ROI and EU. 

Politics again.. Tory govt is pro-Unionist parties. It wants visible signs of Britishness in NI. Internal Markets Bill is an attempt torip up bits of the agreement it signed and GFA, without consulting EU or the people of ROI and NI. The idea is to get rid of border in the sea for British goods. Their hope is, that they won't put up a border, and EU will force ROI to do it, making EU the baddie. Internal Markets Bill was defeated in Lords by biggest margin ever. Tory govt will try to get it back in Parliament again despite rule that says the same bill can't be put through Parliament in same session. 

Are British seeds and British teabags more important to people in NI than peace  Probably not. 

redfox

While it’s easy to wander off-topic that could stop newbies finding the information they want quickly and easily (please see the forum rule) so please keep this thread on topic. If you have any questions about this policy please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.

euronorris

I managed to get my Tesco slot sorted pretty quickly on Friday (I have delivery saver pass). THIS FRIDAY is the day that the slots become available to those without the delivery saver pass. I assume (though not certain) that they have held back some slots for those without the saver pass. They go live at 7am. I was logged in and in a queue at 6.40am. I got through to the site at 7.03am and managed to get my chosen date. I did have to request to process the payment several times as the site couldn't cope with the number of requests, but it did go through. I suggest a similar approach for anyone planning to try on Friday.

Good luck, and I hope it helps!

MrsStepford

Farway said:

MrsStepford said:

There's a pandemic on and the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December. Supermarkets don't know how they will get fresh produce into the country from Spain and Netherlands. I would suggest also, that if you like Richmond sausages and Moy Park chicken, if you have the freezer space, stash some, because Northern Irish food will be under a new internal border.

That is just not true, free flow of goods between the mainland & NI is what all the row is about. Internal market bill, passed into law to prevent just such a problem should EU decide not to agree

The EU may decide to impose restrictions on free flow between Southern Ireland & NI but it will not affect any NI goods to UK mainland

od244051 said:

Most loo roll sold in UK supermarkets is made in the north west (Warrington area?) and north Leicestershire

The Internal Market Bill was rejected by the Lords by biggest majority ever, because it goes against the agreed treaty and the Good Friday Agreement and international law. You don't get the truth from tabloids.

IPSO told me personally, that if a piece in a paper is opinion (even if not marked as such) it doesn't have to be true. Look at the photos of people buying masses of loo rolls - some of those photos were taken in a car park in Dover when Farmfoods had an offer on , no panic buying at all. Photo made it look like it.

 I don't regard explaining why it will be more difficult to get some British products in NI and why some British supermarkets may decide it's too expensive to serve customers, as being off topic. My local Iceland doesn't stock any foreign cheese beside Feta, Halloumi, Leerdammer and Castello, now and the 24 hr Tesco here has stopped stocking Eastern European food, completely. Other supermarkets are stocking more foreign cheeses and Eastern European food, so these are Brexit-related decisions.

Many loo rolls sold in UK come from Northfleet, Kent and IIRC there's another factory in Wales. My preferred brand is made in Italy and not sold in supermarkets. I've gotten 40 rolls at a time with free next day delivery. 

I'm not relying on supermarkets for Christmas food. I'm not getting enough food as it is. My £56 order to Waitrose, ordered two weeks in advance, morphed into a £29 order when it arrived on Monday. That's November and Waitrose. I've had to do an ASDA order for tomorrow.

Farway

MrsStepford said:

Farway said:

MrsStepford said:

There's a pandemic on and the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December. Supermarkets don't know how they will get fresh produce into the country from Spain and Netherlands. I would suggest also, that if you like Richmond sausages and Moy Park chicken, if you have the freezer space, stash some, because Northern Irish food will be under a new internal border.

That is just not true, free flow of goods between the mainland & NI is what all the row is about. Internal market bill, passed into law to prevent just such a problem should EU decide not to agree

The EU may decide to impose restrictions on free flow between Southern Ireland & NI but it will not affect any NI goods to UK mainland

od244051 said:

Most loo roll sold in UK supermarkets is made in the north west (Warrington area?) and north Leicestershire

The Internal Market Bill was rejected by the Lords by biggest majority ever, because it goes against the agreed treaty and the Good Friday Agreement and international law. You don't get the truth from tabloids.

  Sorry more politics but the HOL do not make law, the HOC does and they have already stated, post HOL amendments, that it will go though as intended

Yo do not get full picture from the Granuaid either

https://order-order.com/2020/11/15/eustace-on-coveneys-internal-market-bill-threat-we-will-be-putting-those-measures-back/

sarah1972

redfox said:

While it’s easy to wander off-topic that could stop newbies finding the information they want quickly and easily (please see the forum rule) so please keep this thread on topic. If you have any questions about this policy please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.

And again. 

Please keep this thread on topic. 

Thanks everyone