Liz Truss: Keep bee-killing pesticides off our fields this year

Spring’s finally here! The flowers are blooming and the bees are back. But right now toxic pesticide companies and powerful lobbyists are putting together plans to get the UK ban on bee-killing pesticides lifted.

The pesticides, called neonicotinoids, are banned across Europe because they’re responsible for killing our bees. But Liz Truss, our Environment Minister, could ignore the ban and allow them onto British fields for crops planted this summer.

There’s not much time. The lobbyists plans will need to be approved in the next few weeks so the bee-killing pesticides can be shipped into the country. They’ll be hoping this whole thing can be sorted behind closed doors. That’s where we come in.

A huge petition right now, just as they are pulling their bid together could scupper the whole plan. It’s urgent – sign the petition here.

There’s a sense of deja vu about this – last year lobbyists pulled the same trick. Hundreds of thousands of 38 Degrees members put up a good fight. But we lost. The government gagged their own experts, then made the final decision behind closed doors just before MPs went on summer holiday.

But while we were on the backfoot last year, this year we’re ahead. The government got away with secret meetings and gagging scientists because together, we weren’t expecting it. We weren’t ready. But this year we are – and a huge people-powered petition will prove it.

Let’s make sure every field is safe for our bees.