Welsh supermarkets to be given discretion over non-essential items ban

Supermarkets will be allowed discretion on selling non-essential items during the 17-day lockdown period, after Mark Drakeford rowed back on the original guidance, which came into effect on Friday. 

Under the restrictions, supermarket operators in Wales had been forced to put up cordons and plastic sheets over items including children’s clothes, bedding and kettles.

As a result, a petition with more than 60,000 signatures has since been circulated calling for the ban to be lifted.

Drakeford said today that people may need to buy ‘non-essential’ products from essential retailers “for entirely unexpected reasons which they couldn’t have foreseen”.

While Drakeford has eased some restrictions on supermarkets, he told ITV Wales that he still did not think grocers should be selling clothing in-stores as that might encourage people to spend more time than necessary in shops and would be unfair to retailers that have been forced to close.

“I won’t need, I don’t think, to buy clothing over this two weeks and I think many, many people in Wales will be in that position too,” he said.

“For me, it won’t be essential, but I recognise that there will be some people who for entirely unexpected reasons that they couldn’t have foreseen will need to buy items.

“In those circumstances, where those welfare reasons are at stake, we will make sure that our supermarkets understand they have the discretion to apply the rules differently.”

Drakeford also said ministers are due to meet with representatives from supermarket chains today to discuss the ban. 

The restrictions were announced last Thursday in the Senedd after Conservative member Russell George said supermarkets selling non-essential items at a time of forced closure for independent clothing and hardware businesses was unfair.

The Welsh government’s original guidance called for certain sections of supermarkets to be “cordoned off or emptied” for the two-week lockdown. 

The rules around the wider measures are similar to the first national lockdown in March, in that residents in Wales are only allowed to leave their homes to buy food, take exercise, provide care and work if they cannot do so safely from home. 

Drakeford has said the measures will give the people of Wales a better chance of a more normal Christmas, though he did not rule out reimposing the measure in the new year if cases should shoot up again. 

Last week, Ireland took a similar approach to Wales by reintroducing full lockdown measures across the country to clamp down growing case numbers. 

On a UK-wide level, the government in Westminster has so far refused to introduce full lockdown measures again, instead unveiling a three-tiered alert system. Reports over the weekend suggest that the government is considering adding a fourth, highest tier.