France announce a levy on SHEIN, TEMU and similar imports. AIBU to want the UK to do the same?

Genuine question - given that you favour the European model so strongly and their lovely shops etc, wouldn’t it be easier to move to a country which already has this, rather than try to force it through elsewhere?

The UK public has made it clear that they don’t value the high street and that they would rather order cheap Chinese stuff on the internet. What do you hope to gain by trying to force them to change their habits?

There won’t suddenly be lots of places to shop or Saturday jobs or whatever, people will just be paying more for the same stuff with the added bonus that extra money is available for the government to waste.

The UK is in ‘Europe’! Did you not learn geography at school?

Absolutely! If MN polls were used to shape Govt policy, the country would truly be screwed!

Theres no way the high street is coming back and its not Shein or Temus fault.

I dont' know about your area but traders in my town have closed up over the years because of the higher than inflation rent increases our council keeps on imposing,plus high car parking fees that are comparableto a cuty, not an old northern town in decline. Then the road road works that seemed to go on indefinitely outside shops so it was hard for customers to near. Once they were completed it became impossible to get near the town centre as you could before. People gave up.

Fortunately, a MN poll with 588 votes won’t influence government policy.

I wonder how it would go down outside mn and talk of higher prices rather than French levies.

And you have a choice and that’s fine. You may be in the minority and therefore your options will possibly become more limited but that’s the market for you.

I have only ever had one parcel go missing and I contacted Amazon and they refunded me immediately.

A lot of the click and collect stuff involves it being sent from one shop to another, which is no different from ordering online.

Our big branch of Next in the retail park has closed, to be replaced by a charity shop. Give it a year or two and the other shops will be the same.

High street wasn’t supported so they moved to retail parks, now retail parks are closing in favour of charity shops in the same way.

I agree. Why force people back to the High Street when the majority have made it clear that it’s not their preferred method of shopping?

It is a shame but I think the attitude of trying to force people back is odd!

Oh the majority of people in the U.K. preferred shopping on the High Street to shopping online, the High Street wouldn’t be in the state it is. So sure, it’s a shame for the minority who do still prefer shopping on the High Street.

You ARE self absorbed. It’s not ‘raising standards’ - it’s about things working how YOU want them to, because apparently Europe is wonderful.

Well if enough people agreed with you it wouldn’t have got to this point.

Personally I would like to see the high street turned into housing for the homeless.

They can want it but if the majority don’t, then they don’t get it.

Temu, SHEIN et al haven’t killed the high street. A more viable alternative to the hell that is shopping was created and embraced by enough people, whether that’s Amazon or cheap Chinese imports.

Making out that people who want the high street are somehow deeper thinkers and less self absorbed is hilarious, when you want to punish others to get what you want.

People won’t suddenly change their habits even if the high street suddenly became alive again. There are many reasons why the high street died and you won’t force it back.

We do and we spend a lower percentage of our income on it but it is true that has been high levels of food price inflation in recent years - which has also been the case in other countries.

I thought the UK has one of the lowest household spends on food in Europe, in part because our grocery sector is brutally competitive?

Not lazy, busy. I’m currently on the train into London for work. I’ll be back at about 7pm. I have three children, one with severe additional needs. When I’m not working I’m cooking/cleaning/taking my children to their hobbies/taking my youngest to therapies/dealing with paperwork relating to him/fighting the LA for an appropriate school place. If I have any free time at all, I want to spend it with my family and friends, not trawling round shops for things they so often don’t have in stock.

I live in a rural town (not in the UK) and the shops here don't sell the sort of clothes I want to wear. I would be quite happy to "drag myself to the shops" and in fact did so this morning, but once again nothing to suit me. What do you suggest I do, short of spending money to go to the nearest city and then I'm not guaranteed to find anything I want to buy? I mostly buy from shops in this country who sell online.

Most things in shops are sold by staff on minimum wage.

We, as a society, have got lazy IMO - why drag yourself to the shops when you can have someone on minimum wage deliver to you?

This is part of a major and bizarre inconsistency. Particularly among people who think they are on the left or even socialists.

Up until really quite recently it was from people on the left that you heard criticism of free trade zones, economic globalism, and easy consumerism. On grounds of workers rights, environmental reasons, and so on.

All kinds of tariffs, taxes, and regulations were considered legitimate tools.

Then all of a sudden with Trump, the same people seem to think these tools and even these goals are evil. AMC it's not just, they don't think his specific policies are not going to be effective. It's like free trade is now seen as a leftist principle. Like globalism is now how you become anti-racist, or Euro skepticism is racist, or questioning big pharma or state education are now apparently far right.

Trump seems to have had the effect of turning the left into cheerleaders for everything they used to oppose.

So fuck off to ‘Europe’ then. BTW the UK is also in Europe….

Honestly you sound so self absorbed. Me me me! No consideration for others circumstances at all!

High streets have been in decline for at least 30 years if not more. Not sure SHEIN and TEMU caused it. From what I see on the high street it is the same low quality stuff as on TEMU just more expensive.

I use Vinted but also SHEIN/TEMU. I don't buy huge hauls and certainly don't throw things away after one wear - I'd have no clothes if I did that!

If only. This company and it's egomaniac founder and owner Bezos, has simultaneously devastated many retail outlets in this country. Now one of the Worlds Ruling Digital Elite Clique.

The monopoly it had created for itself is terrifying. Not to mention. How it treats it's suppliers and employees.

Companies like this should be banned.