EU red tape is putting a thorn in Mother’s Day bouquets – as spring flowers soar in price at florists.
Most cut flowers come from the Netherlands, where growers are being hit by tough new border controls.
Post-Brexit paperwork and inspections are delaying perishable lorry loads of flowers and raising growers’ costs.
This is the first Mothering Sunday since strict border checks were introduced last April, and farmers across the Netherlands are increasingly giving up supplying the UK.
Two years of bad harvests, with rain and frost hampering bulb growth, have exacerbated shortages of tulips, lilies, crocuses and hyacinths.
Wholesale prices of tulips are around 50 per cent higher than in 2024, with florists forced to pass the extra cost on to customers.
Nikki Meader, chairman of the British Florist Association, said a typical bouquet has risen from £50 to £65.
She said florists have ‘kept the price down as much as we could’, but added: ‘Wholesale prices have just risen so much that we have to pass them on I am afraid.’
EU red tape is putting a thorn in Mother’s Day bouquets – as spring flowers soar in price at florists (Stock image)
Wholesale prices of tulips are around 50 per cent higher than in 2024, with florists forced to pass the extra cost on to customers (Stock image)
Most cut flowers come from the Netherlands, where growers are being hit by tough new border controls. Pictured: Lorries queue to pass through border and security checks after arriving at the Port of Dover in 2019
She said lorries from the Netherlands deliver to her West Malling Flowers shop in Kent at midnight after being held at the UK border for up to ten hours. Ms Meader said the association is lobbying the Government to cut the ‘crazy’ red tape.
The founder of bouquet delivery service Flowerbx also said florists are facing ‘significant challenges’ in getting Dutch varieties.
‘It is hurting everyone,’ said Whitney Bromberg Hawkings. ‘A lot of florists will have to pass higher prices on to their customers or compromise on quantity or quality.’
The UK is the second-largest market for Dutch flowers and plants, worth around £800million annually.
But the Horticultural Trades Association is warning the government that insufficient capacity at ports for inspections is forcing some Dutch suppliers out of the UK market.
President Will Armitage said: ‘The UK is a big customer for the Dutch but it has unintentionally become a difficult customer.’