No time to talk pesticides
Private Members Bill fails to get time for debate
A Private Members Bill calling for an end to pesticide use by local authorities ran out of time in parliament on Friday.
The Bill (Plant Protection Products Prohibition on Public Sector Use) was brought forward by Green party Brighton Pavillion MP Sian Berry and urged:
Provide for the prohibition of the use of professional plant protection products by local authorities and other public authorities for amenity purposes; to require the Secretary of State to publish guidance in connection with that prohibition; and for connected purposes.
Talking on Bluesky yesterday afternoon, Ms Berry said that she would bring the Bill back to parliament in the autumn and urged people to contact their own MPs to support its progress.
Sadly it is not uncommon for Private Members Bills (PMBs) to fall by the wayside. In describing the process, the Hansard Society says:
“PMBs in the Commons go through the same legislative stages as Government bills, but the procedures that apply at each stage are different. The lack of programming and absence of time limits on speeches facilitate filibustering rather than effective debate and scrutiny. And low yet complex procedural and voting thresholds enable even limited opposition to thwart popular bills.”
Speaking earlier in the week, Ms Berry told the PA news agency that the Government had demonstrated “worrying attitudes to nature from the Government in quite a few of their policies”, but added the ban is a move that lawmakers can “genuinely do for nature to make up for that slightly”.
We will of course keep a track of its eventual progress but in the meantime, the template letter to request your MP supports the Bill is available at the Pesticide Action Network here.
This journalism was made possible by the Tenacious Awards as part of our In the weeds campaign and is freely available using a Creative Commons Share and Attribution Licence.
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