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The Con:

Brexit 'will enhance' UK wildlife laws - Gove

Any Brexit changes to the UK's wildlife laws will increase - not reduce - environmental protection, Michael Gove has pledged.

The new Environment Secretary said he wanted to enhance current rules safeguarding Nature wherever possible.

The Reality:

The Government has again put bees at risk by permitting the use of the banned pesticide thiamethoxam on sugar beet in England in 2022.

The Government has announced that it will permit the use of the banned pesticide thiamethoxam on sugar beet in England in 2022, because of the threat posed by a virus, transmitted by aphids(2).

The successful application, which was made by British Sugar, has for the second year in a row been granted for use by farmers, despite the government's own advisors recommending against its approval. The September 2021 minutes from the Expert Committee on Pesticides meeting said “The Committee agreed with HSE’s evaluation that the requirements for emergency authorisation have not been met” and “on the basis of the evidence presented to ECP, the Committee agreed that it is unable to support an emergency authorisation under Article 53 of Regulation 1107/2009”. The advisers also concluded that pesticide water pollution caused by this decision will harm river life.

Neonicotinoids (NNs) were banned for agricultural use in the UK and the EU in 2018 due to their devastating impact on bees. Even minute traces of these toxic chemicals in crop pollen or wildflowers play havoc with bees’ ability to forage and navigate, with catastrophic consequences for the survival of their colony. A recent study showed that even one exposure of a neonicotinoid insecticide had significant impacts on their ability to produce offspring in future years

Just a reminder,

SWEET! Brexit-supporting Tate & Lyle Sugars receives government support

Former Brexit secretary, David Davis, worked for Tate & Lyle Sugars for almost two decades. Sugar cane importer Tate & Lyle Sugars, which was very vocal in supporting the campaign to Leave the European Union, is set to benefit from several government measures.

The government provided free carbon trading allowances, as well as a grant to cut the company’s refinery emissions at London Docklands, Private Eye has reported.

The firm actively supported the Leave campaign, aiming to remove domestic sugar beet protections. Senior Tate & Lyle Sugars vice-president Gerald Mason tried to influence European Union policies but, upon being told by the EU that the industry shifts are “democracy”, he said “that is not the sort of democracy he wanted to be part of”.

If only we could of known ...