The NFU is deeply frustrated with the process which considered its application for the emergency use of neonicotinoid seed treatments in the UK.

The NFU understands that the Chemical Regulatory Directive, which is part of HSE, and the Expert Committee on Pesticides, made their decisions in May to not recommend approval, based on the application not being sufficiently limited or controlled.

It has taken over a month of confusion for the NFU to get this confirmed, despite the obvious urgency.

The process as a whole has been described as painful and prolonged by the NFU, and has prompted it to call for a more transparent process as it deliberates a second application.

NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: “It is extremely disappointing that we have received a refusal to what we consider to be a thorough and robust application.

"We submitted extensive evidence to support the need for emergency use, which the ECP were convinced by, and we believe that we made a very sound case for our application to be ‘limited’ and ‘controlled’ to the areas which are in need of it, as required.

“We have found the application process to be obscure and confusing; the NFU was not given full information in good time to provide responses to regulators’ questions, interpretation of legislation appeared to have changed and the NFU was left in the dark by government until the last minute. All of this despite clear agreement of the need for these crop protection products by farmers.”