A big thank you to those who voted for Brexit

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Ah well, you’re stuck with it so probably best to move on and get someone better than Boris in charge to do some negotiating. Actually there is a ring to that, why not use it ?
Better than Boris

There’s so much to celebrate in the Festival of Brexit. Not.

MayBee70
There is nothing on their websites to say there is. I do not intend to contact all seed companies. There are 84 pages of companies listed on the List of seed companies licensed for seed industry activities in England and Wales (10 on each page). A large % appear to be seed sellers.
It will be interesting to hear from gardeners if they have problems this year in getting their seeds. I belong to two gardening groups. I'll ask for you.

MaizeD - "The Italian seed company sells seeds of varieties not grown in the UK". Really! Why sell a seed to UK that won't grow in UK?
Looking through their seeds, I bought borlotti bean seeds two years ago. I grew them and collected the seeds to grow the following year.
You didn't answer my question but in reply to your last paragraph then I am all for UK 'grown' seed companies to take the reigns in suppling gardeners with 'trusty' seeds.
I'm sure there are lots of trusty companies, but I've bought imported seeds before but stopped doing so years ago after so many failures.

The advice to businesses from the Government’s own trade department to businesses struggling with all the red tape is now to set up an office in an EU country. One British haulage firm is doing this, getting rid of some U.K. staff and hiring staff in the Netherlands, This will no doubt be the answer for many businesses.

Well, growstuff, if they are those straight EU bananas we don't want them, do we?

Didn't we Brexit so as to have curvy bananas again?

It's bananas! (Well, it's not I'm afraid.) Ghana has a deal with the EU to export bananas. The UK doesn't, so bananas from Ghana imported to the UK have to be imported on WTO terms, which means that the trade isn't sustainable. So far tariffs of £100,000 have been paid and the growers and import businesses are trading at a loss.

Back to the seeds

These companies and others like them could go from strength to strength. What is wrong with that MaizeD?

The Italian seed company sells seeds of varieties not grown in the UK. I have even bought some of their seeds myself, up here in the benighted North. I don't consider t to be a good thing that our choices will now be narrowed.

Nor do I consider it a good thing that UK seed companies are obliged to change their practices. I would assume that for those who imported seeds there were good commercial reasons for their choice. And good commercial reasons for them not producing the seeds themselves. So perhaps they might not view the restrictions to their current way of working to be much of a benefit.

muse. Can I ask if the seed supplier you use are having difficulty selling their seed to the EU? Or if any seed suppliers are? If so, what are the problems?

MaizieD

Even more on the cheese story. Read it and weep.

Take a note of the 'amendment' of 18th Jan. EU countries are able to export animal based products to the UK with no restrictions at all. Our negotiators did a great job there, didn't they?

Also note that all the EU countries have their own specific and varied requirements for imported animal based products from 3rd countries. That looks rather like national sovereignty to me ?. You know, that thing that we apparently had to leave the EU to 'get back'.

westcountrybylines.co.uk/quadruple-cheese-brexit-w^hammy/

Sorry everyone, I quoted the wrong post in my last (I have asked Gnet to remove it, but heaven knows when they'll do it)

The link in my cheese post was corrupted. This is the correct one. It works, I've tested it

westcountrybylines.co.uk/quadruple-cheese-brexit-whammy/

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

One reason , perhaps the only one, why the likes of Rees Mogg and the press barons were anti the EU, was the EU's plans to crack down on tax evasion.

Good news!

"The European parliament is pushing for UK overseas territories including the British Virgin Islands, Guernsey and Jersey to be added to an EU tax havens blacklist after the conclusion of the Brexit deal.

Sending a signal that tougher action on tax avoidance was required in response to the coronavirus pandemic, MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of adding more nations and territories to the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions.

The resolution, passed earlier this week by a vote of 587 to 50, included measures calling for the automatic inclusion on the blacklist of countries which use a 0% tax regime. Among these are the UK overseas territories, viewed by transparency campaigners as havens for tax avoidance.
EU blacklist names 17 tax havens and puts Caymans and Jersey on notice

Several jurisdictions have been taken on and off the list since it was first launched in 2017. However, those linked to EU member states have typically avoided inclusion, and the UK had lobbied to protect its overseas territories from past scrutiny."

From the Guardian

Even more on the cheese story. Read it and weep.

Take a note of the 'amendment' of 18th Jan. EU countries are able to export animal based products to the UK with no restrictions at all. Our negotiators did a great job there, didn't they?

Also note that all the EU countries have their own specific and varied requirements for imported animal based products from 3rd countries. That looks rather like national sovereignty to me ?. You know, that thing that we apparently had to leave the EU to 'get back'.

westcountrybylines.co.uk/quadruple-cheese-brexit-w^hammy/

More on the Cheshire cheese story. UK investment being transferred to France and UK jobs to be lost.

EU member states must be rather pleased about the investment and jobs Brexit is bringing them.

amp.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/23/cheshire-cheesemaker-says-business-left-with-250000-brexit-hole?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other&__twitter_impression=true

I saw this, this morning too vegan. Very sad.

Got up early to make a cuppa and listened to a farming programme on Radio 4. A man who runs a company selling glass eels ( ? no, me neither) said he was going out of business as he could no longer sell to the EU or Northern Ireland. The interviewee asked him if he regretted his Brexit vote - he said- “yes, you have to be careful what you wish for and we didn’t get what was promised” - just about sums it up.

GrannyGravy13

This from the Guardian Nissan boss says Brexit has given them the edge over European competitors!

Hmm! Nothing to do with the £80 million bung from government which Nissan has allegedly received because the political price would have been even more expensive.

OK then! £80,000,000 divided by £325,000 (that was the number of the bus wasn't it?) = how many weeks?

Plus the £23,000,000 which Defra has set up to compensate the fishing industry..

Sorry, cheesemakers. The money tree has stopped producing.

nanna8

We get good Cheddar from the UK over here in Australia at certain shops and as you might know, Australia is really,really fussy about importing food so how come the EU can’t import it ? I think they are just trying to punish you guys. Costco bring in lovely British cheese and they are an American company and even Aldi can get it and they are German. There seems to be a lot of politics going on.

That was the deal which was agreed and signed.

That’s stuff leaving
That doesn’t bother leavers.

Too right, Summerlove. It's someones business going under, but it doesn't bother Leavers because, bizarrely, it's somehow the fault of the business, not the changes to the 'rules' that is the result of their vote.

MaizieD

And cheese

Cheshire Cheese Co
@1CheshireCheese

It is with great sadness we must stop sending our cheese to the EU. Due to an oversight in the Free Trade deal it is impossible for us to send cheese to our EU online consumers. DEFRA has told us not to expect an exemption or change anytime soon. Investment & hope is lost today

twitter.com/1CheshireCheese/status/1352534850142687232

That’s stuff leaving
That doesn’t bother leavers.

??

All that matters is brexit is done.

Maybe those cheese people should rejig their whole business for the masses of new opportunities!! Masses!

They should just be positive.

MaizieD
I'm working my way through a few current threads (joined Gransnet 3 days ago). Reading mainly, and just the odd comment.

This one interested me. First a curiosity about the title and then that seeds and gardening has just been mentioned. However, I've read enough, I hope, to get the gist of the title.

I've never heard of Seeds of Italy but have looked at what they sell. I've no idea what % of UK gardeners buy their seeds. It would be interesting to find out.

What shocked me from the link article was this statement: He explains that the seed sector in Britain has changed. Before World War II, most companies bred their own, “but now over half of UK seed is imported, much from the European Union”.

I'm going to try and find out why that happened. There is not a shortage of people/companies in UK that 'breed' their own seeds.

I grow from seed and most of my seeds come from Sarah Raven (here in UK) whose seeds have been through rigorous germination tests and none genetically modified or chemically treated. Great success with them.

There are many companies like Sarah Raven that don't import. Another I use is Higgledy Garden and King's seeds. All very popular in garden centres etc.

These companies and others like them could go from strength to strength. What is wrong with that MaizeD?

We get good Cheddar from the UK over here in Australia at certain shops and as you might know, Australia is really,really fussy about importing food so how come the EU can’t import it ? I think they are just trying to punish you guys. Costco bring in lovely British cheese and they are an American company and even Aldi can get it and they are German. There seems to be a lot of politics going on.

gangy5 Every time there is a "petty difficulty that affects us personally" there is going to a business on the other end losing out. eg - I can no longer buy the decent cheddar cheese that I enjoy here in France but more importantly the cheese maker cannot export it to supply the many customers who would like it, or Cheshire, or Wensleydale, or Coopers' Marmalde or Tiptree jam' Or even, heaven forfend, Marmite.

Just to spell it out - my complaint is a small one, multiply that by the many other small complaints and on the opposite side are the businesses who can no longer fulfill our requirements. Many of whom will go under.

So a factory not closing is a measure of success?

And cheese

Cheshire Cheese Co
@1CheshireCheese

It is with great sadness we must stop sending our cheese to the EU. Due to an oversight in the Free Trade deal it is impossible for us to send cheese to our EU online consumers. DEFRA has told us not to expect an exemption or change anytime soon. Investment & hope is lost today

twitter.com/1CheshireCheese/status/1352534850142687232