We celebrated when the government pledged to ban bee-harming neonicotinoids. But this year, another neonic was authorised for use on sugar beet. The public deserves greater transparency, and we need stronger protection for wildlife. We’ll keep fighting for both.

The Wildlife Trusts and many others have campaigned for years to stop the use of an insecticide group – neonicotinoids - which is hugely harmful to wildlife, and bees in particular. Over the course of several years 140,000 of you joined our call to government to ban neonics. Thanks to your perseverance, we were relieved that a ban on their use was finally announced by the government last year.

Today marks this year’s Wild Summit – bringing people together to turn ambition for nature’s recovery into action. At last year’s Wild Summit Mary Creagh, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “Without healthy nature our communities and our economies cannot thrive. Emergency authorisations for pesticides must now fully take into account the risks pesticides pose to pollinators including bees. Every action we take brings us closer to a country where nature thrives in harmony with communities.”