Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:17 pm on 12 January 2021.
Could I ask, Trefnydd, for a statement from the environment Minister on any implications for Wales of the decision by the UK Government over the weekend to allow a temporary licence for neonicotinoid use in parts of the UK? Within days of the end of the transition out of the EU, the UK Government has allowed a measure that smacks of that deregulatory approach that we were all fearful of. It's permitting the use, albeit limited at the moment to sugar beet in England, of neonics, when a 2019 report by the World Health Organization said that
'A rapidly growing body of evidence strongly suggests that the existing levels of environmental contamination'— by neonicotinoids—
'are causing large-scale adverse effects on bees and other beneficial insects'.
So, the concern, Trefnydd, shared by many, is that this is just the start of a deregulatory trend. So, a statement could help clarify how this Senedd, and how the Welsh Government, can protect Wales against threats of weakening of environmental protections imposed from Westminster, and also where the Welsh Government stands on proposals for a Welsh national pesticide action plan to properly translate the sustainable use of pesticides directives into Wales, and to live up, I have to say, to what is a really great aim by the environment Minister, of environmental standards in Wales being the same as, if not better than, other places in the UK. Thank you, Trefnydd.