Neonicotinoid Pesticides

Monday 6th January 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy)]

The UK Government are setting out their plans to deliver their commitment to end the use in England of toxic neonicotinoid pesticides that threaten vital pollinators.

Bees and other insects are critical pollinators. They play a key role in food production, with the economic benefits of pollination to crop production in the UK estimated at £500 million each year. Pollinators also support the wider environment and the beauty of our rural and urban spaces. Pollinators face many pressures —including loss of habitat, pests and pathogens and climate change—and their numbers and diversity have declined as a result. It is our responsibility to act now to reverse this trend.

One of the pressures on pollinators is the use of certain pesticides. Three specific neonicotinoid pesticides —clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam—have already been removed from general use because of evidence that their use can harm pollinators. Even at doses that are not directly fatal to bees they can cause cognitive problems, impacting foraging abilities and the productivity of colonies.

Despite this, the last Government continued to allow the use of a neonicotinoid (thiamethoxam) seed treatment on sugar beet crops in England under emergency authorisation arrangements. Emergency authorisations are temporary measures intended to protect crops in exceptional circumstances. We do not consider that they should be used to perpetuate the use of neonicotinoids that can have a long-term effect on biodiversity.

We will break free from this cycle. We will identify and assess potential changes to legislation that would stop the use of emergency authorisations for products containing clothianidin, imidacloprid or thiamethoxam.

We will also review and update the approach to decisions on applications for emergency authorisations in England. The revised approach will be set out in published guidance which will clearly state how future decisions on emergency authorisation will take full account of the importance of pollinators and of the risks they may face if emergency authorisation is granted.

These commitments are made by the UK Government in respect of the position in England only, because pesticide policy and regulation is devolved. A common approach to delivering on this issue is, however, highly desirable. The UK Government will therefore look to work with the devolved Governments in Northern Ireland—recognising the provisions of the Windsor framework—Scotland and Wales to seek a consistent way forward across the UK.

These measures come ahead of the publication of a new UK national action plan (NAP), which will set how pesticides can be used sustainably. The Government are committed to supporting farmers to protect their crops in more sustainable ways. This includes funding for research into precision breeding for virus-resistant varieties of sugar beet.

The plans are outlined in more detail in a document entitled “A new approach to the use of certain neonicotinoids on crops grown in England” which the Government are placing today in the Libraries of both Houses. The document is also available on www.gov.uk.

[HCWS352]