Post-Brexit rules makes buying plants ‘impossible’ in Northern Ireland, MPs say

Gardeners in Northern Ireland are still struggling to get hold of seeds and saplings because of post-Brexit rules, MPs have said.

The Windsor Framework protocol means some are finding it “impossible” to buy seeds for plants from Great Britain, with one MP reflecting that a garden centre in County Antrim had found it easier to get supplies from Japan than Scotland.

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP for South Antrim Robin Swann said the manager of Colemans in Ballyclare had been met with a “wall of bureaucracy” when he tried to order from a Scottish supplier.

He said: “They have actually said for one of its suppliers based in Scotland, who got a new contract in Japan, that it is easier for that Scottish supplier to send plants to Japan than it is 14 miles across the water to Northern Ireland.

“Richard Fry, who is the manager of Colemans, has said when they engaged with that supplier they just see a wall that they come up against, that bureaucracy where they have to name everything that’s on a pallet and in the trailer.”

Post-Brexit rules created the Northern Ireland plant health label, NIPHL, which allows some plants, seeds and saplings to move between Great Britain and Northern Ireland if they comply with EU rules. Bans are still in place on others.

Northern Ireland minister Fleur Anderson said it “protects the UK internal market, while enabling the EU to be confident that its rules will also be respected”.

The horticulture sector in Northern Ireland made £70 million in 2023, with mushrooms and vegetables making up £46 million according to Ms Anderson. Meanwhile wider agriculture was worth £2.87 billion.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry), who convened the Westminster Hall debate, said a group working with offenders at HMP Magilligan, County Londonderry to plant trees has found sourcing saplings difficult.

Mr Campbell said: “A local nursery that is telling me and telling others there is a huge problem, where we’re told we can’t bring in some of these saplings and the outcome of us not being able to do that, threatens the employment and the good work that nursery and the prison are doing to rehabilitate prisoners coming to the end of their sentences.”

Mr Campbell added the rules did not stop people effectively smuggling seeds into Northern Ireland, by buying them in England and flying back with them.

He continued: “We as MPs, I as an MP from Northern Ireland am in Westminster today. Before the end of the week I will go to an airport, and on route to the airport, if I wanted I could go to a garden centre, and I could acquire the self same seeds, pay for them at the garden place, put them in my pocket, board the plane, arrive in Belfast, and there would be no checks. None whatsoever.

“And I can distribute, plant, sow or do whatever I want with those seeds in Northern Ireland, having taken them from the same nursery that won’t supply online or by post to customers in Northern Ireland. So no wonder my local nursery says this is bizarre, and it needs to be resolved.”

Ms Anderson said: “There is one fundamental point that we must accept when discussing the matter raised by (Mr Campbell).

“As a result of having left the European Union, we have two trading entities, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and the ability to have different rules while seeking to ensure the freedom of movement of goods which is so vital for businesses, jobs and consumers across Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

“The practical outworkings of that situation are very much exemplified in the trading of horticultural goods.”

She added: “In matters relating to horticulture as in other sectors, this Government has sought to work to resolve challenges faced in constructive, and mutually beneficial ways.

“These are the actions of a responsible Government responding to the concerns of its citizens and abiding by its commitments in international law on the world stage.”