Bee friendly EU nature directives and the ban on neonicotinoids have been vital to help Britain’s buzzing pollinators. Following the vote to leave the EU Daniel Zeichner MP called on the Government to urgently clarify what bee protections they will put in place.

This is in light of serious concern that EU bee laws will not be replaced with adequate UK protections, with pro-leave campaigners championing their demise in the name of axing so-called ‘red tape’, including Farming Minister, George Eustice, who wrongly described these nature protections as ‘spirit crushing’.

It was also only thanks to the EU that the use of three bee-harming pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, are banned across the continent. The Conservative Government opposed these restrictions. 

Daniel Zeichner MP, who is vice president of the Cambridgeshire bee keepers association and a species champion for the Ruderal bumblebee said: “Bees are essential for pollinating our crops – we can’t afford to gamble with their future.  I am deeply concerned that the protection of bees’ habitats could be watered down. The Government needs to reassure us now.”