Hillmount Garden Centre’s Robin Mercer has welcomed the new agri-food deal with the EU, which will mean the reversal of a ban on some British-grown plants being sold in Northern Ireland.

Some common varieties have been prohibited since 2021 under the terms of Northern Ireland's original Brexit deal. Under the new deal the UK as a whole will realign with EU plant health rules, meaning the ban can be dropped.

Robin Mercer told the BBC that the deal was "long overdue" as the current arrangements had driven up costs.

"In the past before Brexit we were bringing in trolley loads of roses every week, now we're having to source them from different places and there isn't the same selection," he said.

"There's a lot of suppliers in England that won't work with us now because it's too much hassle, too much paperwork."