Bees are essential to our planet’s future, to pollinating our crops and to our rich tapestry of biodiversity.
Yet, in the UK, 13 bee species are extinct, and now one in ten of Europe’s wild bee species are under threat.
Neonicotinoid pesticides were banned across the EU in 2018 due to their harmful impacts. The Tories committed to maintaining these restrictions post-Brexit but then announced last month that they had agreed an exemption to treat sugar beet in England.
I am pleased that the Welsh Labour Government has confirmed that this authorisation will have no effect here. The Welsh Labour Government has a positive record on this having launched the world’s first National Pollinators Plan back in 2013 and remains committed to reducing to the lowest possible level the effect of pesticide use on people, wildlife, plants and the environment.