Office for Environmental Protection finds failures by department when it granted emergency authorisation in 2023 and 2024

The UK government breached environmental law on several occasions when granting farmers permission to use a bee-killing pesticide, a watchdog has found.

In 2023 and 2024, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in the then Conservative government granted emergency authorisation to allow farmers to use a banned neonicotinoid pesticide on sugar beet crops.