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AIBU?

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Original poster

To stockpile food, medicine and petrol?

999 replies

Laudanumm · 03/06/2018 21:18

So apparently we're now at very high risk of exiting the EU in March without a trade agreement with the EU. The government wanted to keep it secret, but it's been leaked that the middle of the 3 outcomes they're discussing, so not the bad one, is the port of Dover collapsing on day 1, immediate food shortages and almost immediate petrol and medicine shortages - as in, no food in the supermarkets. It's in the Sunday Times. AIBU to start stockpiling?

To stockpile food, medicine and petrol?
OP posts:
user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 21:32

GhostofFrankGrimes i totally agree with you there, just imagine if the companies didn't have a good supply of cheap labour may be they might have to offer good wages and a good contract

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 21:36

just imagine if the companies didn't have a good supply of cheap labour may be they might have to offer good wages and a good contract

As has already been explained the UK is reliant on immigration for certain sectors. Multi national companies often relocate if labour is cheaper elsewhere. Brexit won't change this.

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 21:38

If it becomes obvious that there are shortages of essential goods due to customs checks, I see no reason the government couldn't simply suspend the customs checks. Wave the lorries through and worry about tariffs and duties later or never. Simple as.

Except it isn't because it would likely breach WTO rules.

Icantreachthepretzels · 04/06/2018 21:38

Oh is that why more than 17.4 million vote to leave the EU, yes I grant you other people will have other reasons.

Yes - they we're lied to. The media have been writing scare stories about immigration for decades - and they are just that - scare stories. Expert analysis tells us it;s not a problem. But that does not make headlines or sell newspapers.

GhostofFrankGrimes I think you will find we have more people in employment than ever
So why did you bring up the 1.5 million in the first place? Jesus Christ pick an argument and stick with it.

You are simply making yourself look ridiculous now.

Icantreachthepretzels · 04/06/2018 21:42

Except it isn't because it would likely breach WTO rules.

Then BY GOD let's brexit from them!

safariboot I have already posted a long screed explaining exactly why we can't just ignore customs. This is a fast moving thread and it is many pages back now - but this has already been answered. Several times by several posters.

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 21:43

GhostofFrankGrimes Are they reliant or that's the way they make you believe it, i am old enough when weren't so called reliant on immigration, everything seemed to get done then inc fruit picking, i remember listening to a professor talking about unskilled labour in this country and how it was much to high and something would have to be done about, that was 15 + years ago it looks like with gone down the immigration route

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 21:47

User, please educate yourself;

Fruit and veg farmers facing migrant labour shortages

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40354331

Theresa May could scrap immigration cap on doctors 'within weeks'

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/theresa-could-scrap-immigration-cap-12643860

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 21:48

Icantreachthepretzels you didn't read the post. the poster said that unemployment was low and we needed immigration, hence the unemployment figure

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 21:50

GhostofFrankGrimes lets get them unemployed working then, or offer better wages

Havanananana · 04/06/2018 21:53

If it becomes obvious that there are shortages of essential goods due to customs checks, I see no reason the government couldn't simply suspend the customs checks. Wave the lorries through and worry about tariffs and duties later or never. Simple as.

Except in the real world, things don't work like this. Tariffs and duties are the least of the problems facing UK trade. It is the non-tariff issues of compliance, standards and certification that will cause the disruption to imports and exports.

If all the lorries were simply waved through, how would the UK know which ones contained food, which ones contained knocked-off fake goods and which ones were full of horse meat? [This is also the reason why Davis' Northern Ireland 'border that is not a border' is an impossibility].

No checks on the goods coming in would allow uncertified or contaminated food and medicines to enter the UK. It would also allow uncertified products such as components to enter the UK - meaning that no British goods could be re-exported if the EU and other countries could not be certain that no sub-standard or non-compliant parts had been used in their manufacture. The net result would be the overnight end to British manufacturing and the consequent loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 21:54

GhostofFrankGrimes lets get them unemployed working then, or offer better wages

You didn't read the articles did you?

There is a labour shortage in fruit picking because in some areas unemployment is low.

There is a skills shortage in the NHS hence the need for overseas doctors.

You just don't want to listen.

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 21:57

GhostofFrankGrimes Theresa May could scrap immigration cap on doctors 'within weeks', this goes back to bad planning and not training enough of are own people, need to get the infrastructure right and get the balance between people here and available services, how many Doctors and nurses etc do we need in 10 years time, it needs long time planning not just taking other countries staff.

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 21:58

Yes user you finally get it! Bad planning by the British government - not the EU! Well done!

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 22:02

GhostofFrankGrimes unemployment is low, but there are still unemployed, why cant long term unemployed pick for the season with out loss of benefits. why do we all ways have to go down the cheap easy immigration route

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 22:04

GhostofFrankGrimes how many times do i have to say existing and previous governments have not helped the situation, which has lead to this vote

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 22:04

GhostofFrankGrimes unemployment is low, but there are still unemployed, why cant long term unemployed pick for the season with out loss of benefits

Because the Tory government have been peddling austerity and axing benefits.

FishesaPlenty · 04/06/2018 22:06

If all the lorries were simply waved through, how would the UK know which ones contained food, which ones contained knocked-off fake goods and which ones were full of horse meat?

No checks on the goods coming in would allow uncertified or contaminated food and medicines to enter the UK.

How exactly does waving through a Polish lorry full of whatever with no/minimal checks today differ from waving through a Polish lorry full of whatever in 12 months time? What protection do we have from these contaminated goods today that we wouldn't have after Brexit? They'd still be coming from the EU after all.

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 22:06

GhostofFrankGrimes how many times do i have to say existing and previous governments have not helped the situation, which has lead to this vote

Do you ever read your own posts back to yourself? You have identified that the UK government is responsible for the UK's problems but you blame the EU. Can you see what is wrong with that?

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 22:09

GhostofFrankGrimes i have no problem with axing benefits, it should be a safety net not a life style choice, The great financial crash that's another topic, which all countries missed including your beloved EU

Icantreachthepretzels · 04/06/2018 22:11

Icantreachthepretzels you didn't read the post. the poster said that unemployment was low and we needed immigration, hence the unemployment figure

Yes I did read the post, thank you. I assumed your proffered figure was to counteract the claim that unemployment was low - not to back it up. After all - why would you be backing up an assertion of someone you are attempting to disagree with?
It is you who were unclear, if that was truly your intention.

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 22:12

why cant long term unemployed pick for the season with out loss of benefits

i have no problem with axing benefits, it should be a safety net not a life style choice

at least have a consistent thought process for more than a couple of minutes.

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 22:15

GhostofFrankGrimes yes of course i do . people have concerns about immigration whether founded or not, no government has done anything about it apart from calling a lovely old lady a bigot, so the next step was the referendum, rightly or wrongly its a rejection of the status quo

user1486062886 · 04/06/2018 22:16

GhostofFrankGrimes with out loss of benefits when they return to unemployment, as sometimes happens

GhostofFrankGrimes · 04/06/2018 22:21

people have concerns about immigration whether founded or not, no government has done anything about it apart from calling a lovely old lady a bigot, so the next step was the referendum, rightly or wrongly its a rejection of the status quo

You have been shown evidence as to how immigration is vital to the UK economy. If people voted to leave, as you seem to suggest, on perception then that is very foolish and we are all going to be poorer for it. The status quo will remain because immigration is required - it might just now come more from non EU countries.

Icantreachthepretzels · 04/06/2018 22:22

why cant long term unemployed pick for the season with out loss of benefits. why do we all ways have to go down the cheap easy immigration route

Do they live near these farms? How will get there if they don't? Where will they stay? Who will look after their children whilst they are aware? How will they apply for jobs and attend interviews if they are working long hours picking fruit and are miles from home.

No .. no I get it. The children can go along with - they can spend their summer picking fruit too. They won't be being paid for their time - of course - because paid child labour is wrong. Then the fruit pickers won;t need to apply for jobs because they'll be working - so they can stay on state benefits and simply move from farm to farm. It can betheir new career. And they and their children will need somewhere to live - so the state can build a some nice big communal housing for fruit pickers to live in when they work. They'll need a name... I know ... workhouses!

For God's sake. Can you fucking listen to yourself and then give yourself a mental slap.

Employing mostly young, mostly single men to pop over for a few months and pick fruit - earning wages far higher than they would back home - is so massively different to forcing settled British citizens to pick fruit in return for benefits, forcing them out of their homes to do so and causing god knows what problems with child care in the process; that the two scenarios don't even belong to the same world. One is the free and fair exchange of labour. The other is a cruel and dystopian nightmare.

I'm afraid some of your posts frankly disgust me.