Gove backs ban on pesticides that are killing our honeybees

PESTICIDES that harm honeybees must be banned, Michael Gove said yesterday.

In a policy reversal, the Environment Secretary said the Government now supports a ban across the European Union.

The move was hailed by green campaigners as a strong signal that the environment will continue to be protected after Brexit.

The pesticides – known as neonicotinoids – are meant to kill insects that eat crops. They are used in sprays and coatings on seeds – killing sap-sucking weevils and aphids.

But Mr Gove said yesterday the risk to bees and other insects such as butterflies was ‘greater than previously understood’. Last month a study found that three-quarters of the honey produced around the world contains nerve agent pesticides that can harm bees.

Increasing evidence shows they also harm bees’ ability to forage for food and to reproduce.

Scientists who tested 198 honey samples from every continent except Antarctica discovered that 75 per cent were laced with at least one of the neonicotinoid chemicals.

The European Commission proposed curbs on three neonicotinoids for flowering crops such as oil seed rape in 2013 because of the threat to bee health. The UK had opposed the

ban. However, Mr Gove said he now believed the evidence had ‘grown’ and Britain will back a new proposal by Brussels to extend the ban to non-flowering crops such as wheat and sugar beet.

Mr Gove said: ‘ While there is still uncertainty in the science, it is increasingly pointing in one direction.

‘Not to act would be to risk continuing down a course which could have extensive and permanent effects on bee populations.’

Environment campaigners welcomed the ban. Matt Shardlow, of insect conservation group Buglife, said: ‘ Brexit will give the UK more control over the health of our ecosystems and it is essential in doing so that we apply the highest standards of care.’