The now-enacted will of (some of) the people

[ml1dch]

Just now, TheAuthority said:

Don't want any of that forin muck anyway! Give me propa British food.

Quassonts? Garlicky French rubbish.

Damn straight. We'll just stick to old-fashioned English cooking like Nandos, Domino's or a quick kebab if the EU insist on punishing us.

[tonyh29]

50 minutes ago, bickster said:

I know we're joking but there was a serious point too.

Read a few tweets on the subject the other day, some of them quoting Gove.

Apparently, we'll be absolutely goosed for bananas and a few other things, there'll be 40% tariffs on Beef and Lamb (making exporting our stuff next to impossible) and some mad figures about us getting 70% of tomatoes and lettuce and other common veg from abroad (in the event of No Deal)

Wait they grow bananas exclusively in the EU now ? 

Few posts earlier up we were all going to be starving now we can’t export our beef and lamb due to tariffs ... here’s a radical idea rather than starve  and eating moss why don’t we all eat beef and lamb

 

[WhatAboutTheFinish]

48 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I think a few generations of people have forgotten just how good we have it. 

From food, to tech, we have the best things available on the planet available to us at the click of a button.

In the case of a no deal, when people have to start thinking about seasonal eating (what, you can't get strawberries in January?! Pineapples and bananas don't exist anymore?!), people might realise just how convenient our lives have been for a bloody long time, and that's a result of international trade and cooperation.

 

Just out of interest, in which countries of the EU do Strawberries grow naturally in January and what percentage of pineapples and bananas sold in the UK are produced in the EU? 

[bickster]

3 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Wait they grow bananas exclusively in the EU now ? 

No idea why he said it

[Davkaus]

6 minutes ago, WhatAboutTheFinish said:

Just out of interest, in which countries of the EU do Strawberries grow naturally in January and what percentage of pineapples and bananas sold in the UK are produced in the EU? 

The problem isn't that products are grown in the EU, the problem is that most of our trading agreements are due to us being members of the EU.

In reality, I can't imagine we won't see strawberries and bananas year round, but if we leave with no deal and fall back to WTO terms, the cost will significantly increase on all crops we can't grow ourselves.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Davkaus

[Chindie]

3 minutes ago, WhatAboutTheFinish said:

Just out of interest, in which countries of the EU do Strawberries grow naturally in January and what percentage of pineapples and bananas sold in the UK are produced in the EU? 

Spain is pretty much the biggest fruit and veg exporter on the planet. Vast swathes of Spain are covered in poly tunnels and greenhouses growing crops out of season for most of the rest of Europe, and the produce is sold almost exclusively within the EU. Including strawberries.

There are obviously exceptions, including bananas (which iirc are actually subject to special trading terms as they usually are grown in quite poor countries and are seen as a staple worldwide) and pineapples (although Spain also grows those, in the Canaries iirc), but generally a helluva lot of the fruit and veg you buy in the UK is coming from the EU. Especially Spain.

[LondonLax]

The UK currently has free trade agreements with tropical fruit producers in the Americas via the EU. Once you leave you will need to reopen negotiations with those countries and there is no garentee the deal you get will be as good as the one the EU was able to get. 

One thing that was noticeable as an Australian living in the UK was the range of fruit and vegetables that were available out of season. Australian supermarkets are much more seasonal. You can still find stuff out of season in Aus if you go looking but it seems it is not worth importing for the major supermarkets. 

[tonyh29]

Spain  is our biggest importer ( imports actually declined 4% last year ) but the second biggest importer of fruit and veg is South Africa and I’m also fairly sure that other parts of Africa would welcome the chance to get some additional imports outside of the crippling deals the EU impose on them ....65% of Kenya’s exports are agricultural there is plenty of food out there chaps

 so assuming a no deal that for some bizarre reason results in a total blockade of EU fruit and veg we aren’t going to starve ... spanish farmers on the other hand might feel a bit of a pinch ? 

 

As for strawberries the second biggest exporter behind Spain is the USA though no doubt we will see some scare stories shortly about chlorinated strawberries crossing the Atlantic 

interestingly the biggest producer of strawberries seems to be China ? But they don’t currently seem to be a large exporter of them ?  Either way No need to cancel Wimbledon just yet 

[mjmooney]

Strawberries from the USA and China? 

From a carbon footprint viewpoint alone, that's madness. 

[Davkaus]

How quickly do you imagine we might be able to do a trade deal that negates the punitive tariffs that we'd be subject to if we resorted to WTO rules, @tonyh29?

[snowychap]

14 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

the second biggest importer of fruit and veg is South Africa

Do you mean that the second biggest exporter to the UK for fruit and vegetables is South Africa? I'm just trying to clarify what your claim is.

Do you have the link to the data and the details, please? Just so we've got an idea of the figures involved, the details of the produce, &c? Are there any tariffs involved? If so, what are they? If not is that due to some sort of Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and a group of countries in Africa?

14 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

the crippling deals the EU impose on them

Could you give us some details about these crippling deals, please?

Edited January 6, 2019 by snowychap

[LondonLax]

27 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Spain  is our biggest importer ( imports actually declined 4% last year ) but the second biggest importer of fruit and veg is South Africa and I’m also fairly sure that other parts of Africa would welcome the chance to get some additional imports outside of the crippling deals the EU impose on them ....65% of Kenya’s exports are agricultural there is plenty of food out there chaps

 so assuming a no deal that for some bizarre reason results in a total blockade of EU fruit and veg we aren’t going to starve ... spanish farmers on the other hand might feel a bit of a pinch ? 

 

As for strawberries the second biggest exporter behind Spain is the USA though no doubt we will see some scare stories shortly about chlorinated strawberries crossing the Atlantic 

interestingly the biggest producer of strawberries seems to be China ? But they don’t currently seem to be a large exporter of them ?  Either way No need to cancel Wimbledon just yet 

The point is not that the UK will no longer be able to get strawberries, that is a non sequitur. 

The point is that it may become more expensive to have them all year around than it is currently. 

[tonyh29]

39 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Strawberries from the USA and China? 

From a carbon footprint viewpoint alone, that's madness. 

Selective carbon footprinting FTW

[tonyh29]

42 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

How quickly do you imagine we might be able to do a trade deal that negates the punitive tariffs that we'd be subject to if we resorted to WTO rules, @tonyh29?

In specific regards to (South ) Africa as that was the country being discussed , it’s already agreed , May didn’t just go to SA to dance there was some serious stuff as well

[snowychap]

2 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

In specific regards to (South ) Africa as that was the country being discussed , it’s already agreed

Is it?

Do you have a copy?

[OutByEaster?]

13 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

In specific regards to (South ) Africa as that was the country being discussed , it’s already agreed , May didn’t just go to SA to dance there was some serious stuff as well

We rolled over the existing EU terms didn't we? So we can still use the same terms we would have had if we were still in the EU. I think that would have to be seen as a good thing. If there's one thing we know about the EU, it's that they're better at negotiating than we are.

 

 

[bickster]

17 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

In specific regards to (South ) Africa as that was the country being discussed , it’s already agreed , May didn’t just go to SA to dance there was some serious stuff as well

That would be impossible

a) we're still in the EU

b) We don't know when the transition and backstop will end

[tonyh29]

19 minutes ago, bickster said:

That would be impossible

a) we're still in the EU

b) We don't know when the transition and backstop will end

The whole discussion (tonight) has been about no deal  ... the Africa deal is agreed and presumably goes live a nano second after the champagne corks pop in March 

Edited January 6, 2019 by tonyh29

[snowychap]

26 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

We rolled over the existing EU terms didn't we?

Have we? With whom?

[NurembergVillan]

7 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

The whole discussion (tonight) has been about no deal  ... the Africa deal is agreed and presumably goes live a nano second after the champagne corks pop in March 

The irony.