Rishi Sunak's government has been urged to reassure Britons that there will be no shortage of red roses for Valentine's Day due to new Brexit controls.
Importers of fruit, vegetables and flowers are urging the government to provide more details on the new wave of red tape imposed on imports in late January and April.
And Dutch flower growers have called on Sunak's government to delay looming border controls, warning that EU exporters are unprepared.
Labor MP Daniel Zeichner said British growers who import young plants, flower seeds and other products were now “seriously concerned” about the changes ahead.
The Horticultural Trade Association warned that the process of importing a petunia plant from the Netherlands had gone from 19 to 59 steps, Zeichner said in the House of Commons.
The MP asked: “So what is the minister doing to ensure we have a plentiful supply of imported red roses for Valentine's Day, especially for all those Tories on the other side who love each other so much?”
Conservative business minister Greg Hands said the government had done a lot of work on the system of import controls “to make sure businesses are aware and the introduction of this will be done in stages”.
Dover has experienced waves of congestion and delays due to post-Brexit rules
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Hands said the new model will “simplify border processes for both imports and exports”, before attacking Labor plans for a new veterinary agreement with Brussels to ease trade frictions.
Sunak's government delayed introducing controls on EU imports until 2024 over fears the extra burden could push up food inflation, which is finally starting to ease from the peaks of the cost of living crisis.
New health certificates are required for imports from January 31. Then it will be another three months until sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls on medium-risk food, animal and plant products come into force on April 30.
Chris Bonnett, founder of Gardening Express, warned that the new controls could lead to shortages of some flowers and plants. He said consumers are “likely to face the brunt of rising prices for flowers and plants.”
Earlier this month, the Dutch Association of Wholesalers of Flower Products said the checks should be delayed again until 2025, warning of problems before Valentine's Day and Easter.
James Barnes, president of the Horticultural Trades Association, has told the Financial times that the new border system is “a disaster waiting to happen.”
And he added: “The fundamental issue is that the necessary infrastructure does not exist to deal with the volume of trade that is arriving.”
The National Farmers Union (NFU) said looming paperwork and import inspections could pose an “existential threat” to British horticultural businesses.
The farming group said British growers who rely on young EU plants, such as soft fruits such as strawberries and raspberries, look set to be affected by the disruption.
