Brexit: Ban on GB to NI tree sales 'a major setback'

Northern Ireland tree buyers are cancelling orders for thousands of trees because of a post-Brexit ban on plants being moved from Great Britain.

Under new rules, trees being sold from GB to NI are now subject to onerous new checks and controls.

NI is still in the EU's single market for goods while the rest of the UK is not.

Gregor Fulton, of the Woodland Trust, said the ban is "a huge setback" and will affect biodiversity.

"The problem now lies in that we cannot get the trees over because there is pretty much a ban on British soil coming into Northern Ireland, into the whole of Ireland," he said.

That means that the Woodland Trust is unable to buy many of the minor species - needed to improve biodiversity in Northern Ireland's woodlands - from its usual retailers in England and Scotland, Mr Fulton added.

The Woodland Trust has had to cancel an order for 22,000 trees from Great Britain.

They were to be given away to schools and community groups to encourage tree planting in Northern Ireland.

Mr Fulton said that in recent years much work was being done to "get Northern Ireland re-wooded".

"Everything was moving in the right direction," he said.

"This is very frustrating, a major setback."

Northern Ireland is the least wooded area in the whole of the UK and one of the least wooded in the whole of Europe.

The Woodland Trust want to see the ban on trees from Great Britain removed.

Sourcing trees from outside the UK could undo previous work aimed at protecting Northern Ireland's woodland from diseases such as ash dieback, Mr Fulton added.

He said: "It is very frustrating. We need to get these trees moving again."

John McGuinness owns a garden centre in Strabane, Country Tyrone.

He told BBC Radio Foyle's Mark Patterson Show the new rules mean he has had to cut ties with many of the suppliers he used before the UK's left the EU.

"Things aren't easy, it means we are going further afield than GB for our suppliers. We have had to cut ties with UK suppliers," he said.

About 90% of his supply came from UK businesses, he added.

It is understood the issue is to be discussed in meetings between European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic and NI business and civic leaders on Thursday..