BUYING Valentine's Day flowers flown in from Africa will help the planet and the world's poor, the Government claimed today.

International Development Secretary Hilary Benn urged the public to buy bouquets grown overseas rather than in Britain or other parts of Europe.

In a speech at a sustainable food conference, Mr Benn hit out at calls by green groups for a boycott of imported blooms on environmental grounds.

He said less energy was used to fly in flowers from abroad than to grow them out of season under heated greenhouses in Holland. The ...

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