Defra secretary Michael Gove has come under increased pressure to clarify his position on neonicotinoid science, after the publication of a major European field trial that showed neonicotinoid pesticides had impacts on the health and reproduction of bumblebees and honeybees.

Last week, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman wrote to the newly appointed environment secretary, asking Mr Gove to clarify his party’s position after Conservative MEPs attempted to derail proposed restrictions on the pesticides in the European Parliament. The EU Commission plans to ban outdoor use of neonicotinoids, over concerns about their effects on non-target species and persistence in the environment.

On Friday, Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South-West, who sits on the European Parliament’s Agriculture committee, challenged environment secretary give s public guarantee that the UK government will honour an EU ban on neonicotinoids after Brexit.

She said, “I am challenging DEFRA secretary Michael Gove to give a public guarantee that he will continue the EU ban on neonicotinoids after Brexit. This can be the first step towards an Environmental Protection Act which can put into practice his promise to enhance rather than diminish environmental standards after we leave the EU.”

The Green Party has called for the introduction of an Environmental Protection Act to ensure continued protection for nature after Brexit, as experts have raised concerns about the Great Repeal Bill, and whether EU directives like those governing habitats and birds can be translated directly into UK law.  

Reacting to the publication in the journal Science of studies from Europe and Canada on Friday, Molly Scott Cato said, “These results from large-scale and scientifically sound field studies should be the final nail in the coffin for neonicotinoids which have decimated the health of our pollinators over recent years. Greens in the European Parliament will continue to push for the ban to be extended to include all uses and to be made permanent.

“The study results are all the more convincing as they were majority funded by the very chemical companies who have long denied that their toxic products have any negative impact on bee populations or the environment.”

Bayer, one of the companies that funded the field trials in Europe, claimed the results were “inconsistent” and said it does not accept the conclusions drawn by researchers, that neonicotinoid pesticides harm honeybees and wild bees.