‘Absolutely ridiculous’: Welsh shoppers stunned as supermarkets cordon off ‘non-essential’ aisles

Baby clothes, kitchen utensils and bedding among items placed behind metal barriers and under plastic sheeting

(Getty Images)

Shoppers in Wales have reacted with astonishment after supermarkets there placed so-called non-essential items behind makeshift metal barriers or covered them with plastic sheeting to prevent their sale.

Photos show products including baby clothes, kitchen utensils, school items and bedding bluntly cordoned off – to comply with the ‘firebreak’ lockdown ordered by Cardiff.

Under the country’s new coronavirus restrictions, all non-essential shops have been closed for 17 days while supermarkets have been barred from selling anything deemed not a necessity. Alcohol and cigarettes will still be available.

But hundreds of people have already slammed the move as going too far.  

“Absolutely ridiculous,” wrote one, Philippa Smallwood, on Twitter. “Pretty sure that if you are isolated for 17 days and your kettle packs in, you should be able to buy a new one."

Another, Lucy Heath, said simply: "Words fail me.”

She added: “How is a microwave not essential for someone if theirs breaks? Same with a kettle? Or a duvet/blanket with the weather getting colder? Yet again it's the people struggling financially that are the hit the hardest...definitely not ‘in this together’ in Wales."

Riffing on the theme Andrew RT Davies, the Conservative shadow health minister, offered his own verdict. “The power is going to their heads,” he wrote, before adding: “Is a flagon of Strongbow deemed essential? What about some much-needed underpants if you’re caught short?”

The move has been defended by first minster Mark Drakeford, who told the country on Friday that the action was designed to ensure supermarkets did not profit unfairly when other shops selling similar items had been forced to shut.

In a press conference, the Welsh Labour leader added that ban was for just a fortnight – actually 17 days – and told people to be resourceful if they encountered issues.

"This is a period of two weeks where we are asking people to make this effort and if there are genuine cases of people who cannot find something that is essential to them in a supermarket there will be other ways in which that can be solved,” he said.

"People are very inventive, they have friends, they have neighbours, who are in a Welsh context we know often very willing to help. There are online ways of purchasing goods."