Katy Clark battles on …
Arran’s tireless MP, Katy Clark, has been defending Arran’s interests on several fronts this month. She is concerned that people who are not on mains gas pay over the odds for gas in bottled form, and welcomes a report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Off-Gas Grid costs.
The Bedroom Tax, Katy holds, will hit North Ayrshire people very hard, particularly those living in temporary accommodation and suffering a cut in benefits. The Government’s view that people should live in the smallest house possible is unrealistic, she points out, as local authorities do not build single-bedroom houses that have very limited use.
Fuel prices on Arran continue to be a pressing concern. Katy wrote to George Osborne requesting a reduction in the cost of fuel, and spoke of the large number of people who have contacted her about fuel costs.
… for bees, too
Katy has signed the Bee Cause petition run by Friends of the Earth. As a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, she is acutely aware that neonicotinoid pesticides may be causing the catastrophic wipe-out of honey-bee colonies. However, the English Government voted against an EU proposal to ban the use of these systemic insecticides.
The National Farmers Union, always inclined to back the use of helpful chemicals, admitted in its statement to the Government that there are ‘inadequacies in the way regulatory authorities assess the long-term and sub-lethal effects of systemic pesticides (such as neonicotinoids) on insects.’ They add, ‘It is very well known that the current pesticide risk assessment systems for bees were not developed to assess systemic pesticides.’
New research reported on the BBC World Service has found that neonicotinoid pesticides damage the brains of honey-bees, affecting their ability to learn and remember, thus destroying their function as pollinators.
Syngenta and Bayer, the giant chemical firms that manufacture neonicotinoids, say the impact of pesticides on bees is unproven and suggest that planting more flowering margins around fields to provide bee habitats. Campaign group Avaaz, which has collected more than 2.5 million signatures on a petition asking the EU to ban the products, was sceptical. ‘Putting the pesticides industry in charge of protecting bees is like putting a fox in charge of a henhouse,’ said campaign director Alice Jay.
If you would like to add your name to the Bee Cause, click on the following link:
