The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) policy and public affairs team has spent the summer engaging with politicians, MPs, and Members of the Senedd (MS) to ensure that horticulture’s challenges and opportunities remain on the political agenda.
Whilst the UK and devolved parliaments were in summer recess, supported by the HTA’s policy and public affairs team, HTA members across the country hosted visits to discuss top sector issues and to build relationships with policymakers and influencers.
These constituency visits provide an opportunity to showcase the wide-ranging and diverse nature of the industry, from growers and manufacturers to retailers and landscapers, and help HTA members demonstrate the vital contribution their businesses make to the wider industry and the economy.
The HTA represents the entire supply chain for the UK’s environmental horticulture and gardening industry. Last year, the sector contributed £38 billion to the UK economy and supported the employment of 722,000 people. By 2030, the environmental horticulture industry could be worth £51.2 billion.
During a visit to HTA member Mile Oak Garden Centre on 13 August 2025, Sarah Edwards - Labour MP for Tamworth and member of the Business and Trade Select Committee - learned more about the challenges facing small and medium-sized businesses in the industry, such as business rates and workforce costs. The HTA estimates that changes to National Insurance Contributions and the increase in the National Living Wage will cost HTA members £134 million, with 70% of member businesses having to increase prices, over half freezing recruitment, and just under half having to reduce or postpone capital investment.
A few days later, the Rt Hon Caroline Nokes - Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North - visited Hillier Nurseries Ltd to hear about the HTA members’ transition to peat-free growing, trade and water resilience. As an industry that relies on water to flourish, the HTA is continuing its campaign for a long-term water resilience plan to ensure that water-related issues faced by its members are recognised and addressed by the government. Garden centres and ornamental plant growers use approximately 20 million cubic metres of water each year, the equivalent of just 0.2% of the UK's total water use. However, messaging around water restrictions can have a direct, adverse effect on the sector.
In Wales, Mark Isherwood MS, Conservative Senedd member for the North Wales region, visited HTA members the Klondyke Group’s Daleside Garden Centre to discuss horticultural skills, the importance of securing the future workforce and the role of garden centres in driving tourism to Wales.
Samantha Smith, Public Affairs Manager at the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), said: “Showing politicians what HTA members do in their local areas is a valuable opportunity for everyone involved. Site visits really help to bring the sector’s story to life; they highlight the challenges facing the industry, whether that’s cost of business, grant support, or the transition to peat-free.
“It’s especially rewarding to see the MP genuinely start to understand the value and role not just of the local business they are visiting and local jobs, but also the wider environmental horticulture sector – whether that’s its economic contribution, health and wellbeing benefits, role in tackling climate change, or positive impact our green spaces have on community cohesion.”
Additional member visits are scheduled to take place over the coming weeks, including one with the Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, Daniel Zeichner.
The HTA policy and public affairs team also attended an event hosted by The Spectator on 27 August. Cabinet Office Minister Rt Hon Nick Thomas-Symonds MP confirmed that detailed negotiations on the SPS trade agreement would begin in the Autumn, with legislation to be brought before Parliament to approve and implement by 2027. At the event, HTA’s Public Affairs Manager Samantha Smith highlighted the importance of an SPS agreement for HTA members and asked about the government's approach to divergence - giving plant protection products, where approval for active ingredients varies, as an example. The Minister confirmed the negotiation process would be conducted in tandem with business and stakeholders, like the HTA, so that these issues can be addressed.
The HTA advocates for the industry’s contributions to the economy, environment and health and wellbeing. This summer, the policy and public affairs team also worked with members to prepare environmental horticulture manifestos for Scotland and Wales, which will be launched in the coming months, ahead of the Holyrood and Senedd elections in May 2026. As Party Conference season approaches, the team continues to engage across the political spectrum and will attend party conferences this month and in October to highlight some of the key sector issues that have been raised by members over the summer.
