Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to ban the use of neonicotinoids in UK agriculture.

Three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – have not been authorised for general use as pesticides since 2018 because of the risks they pose to pollinators.

An application for emergency use of the neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser SB, containing thiamethoxam, on sugar beet in England in 2025 was not approved.

Both during our election campaign and while in office, this Government has given a commitment to end emergency authorisations for these three pesticides. The next steps towards delivering this commitment were set out in a published policy statement and in a written statement to Parliament on 6 January.