Greenpeace's Pesticides Reception in Parliament

Thank you to everyone who brought the Greenpeace event on pesticides to my attention. I'm sorry that I was unable to make it, but please know I am 100% committed to reducing the risks of pesticide use. The responsible use of pesticides is pivotal to maintaining the delicate balance between food security, nature recovery and environmental sustainability.

I know that while pesticides play an important role in protecting crops, the overuse or incorrect use of pesticides can contribute to biodiversity loss and unacceptable human exposure levels. I am also conscious of the risk of pesticide resistance.

I welcome our Government’s UK Pesticides National Action Plan, published last year. You may be aware of the UK Pesticide Load Indicator, which illustrates and tracks trends in the potential pressure pesticides place on the environment. The National Action Plan sets a new target to reduce each of the 20 metrics that make up the Pesticide Load Indicator by at least 10% by 2030 from 2018 levels. I welcome this and will continue to follow developments.

The National Action Plan also makes clear our Government’s commitment to increasing take-up of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches to reduce pesticide use. IPM is a holistic and sustainable approach which uses a range of methods and promotes preventative measures. This helps keep the use of conventional chemical pesticides to levels that are ecologically and economically justified. Our Government supports these approaches through its Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme which pays farmers to adopt and maintain sustainable farming practices. I am pleased our Government also supports several research projects prioritising IPM and the development of biopesticides through the Biopesticides Scheme.

I look forward to our Government’s refreshed Pollinator Action Plan in 2026. I continue to support the commitment to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in England and I understand the Health and Safety Executive is currently undertaking a renewal assessment of the pesticide active substance glyphosate. This will include a thorough and robust scientific assessment of its risks to the environment and health, including newly published literature and decisions taken in other jurisdictions, to decide whether it meets the strict approval criteria for use in pesticide products in Great Britain.

I assure you this Government is determined to explore how we can go further in reducing our use of pesticides across all sectors while supporting sustainable crop production and amenity management. More broadly, I support action set out by the Environmental Improvement Plan to help species and nature recovery in England.