Westminster Buzzing with Bee-Keepers

10.16.43pm GMT Sun 9th Nov 2008

Westminster was buzzing with beekeepers on Wednesday on the occasion of their parliamentary lobby.

The lobby was organised to highlight beekeepers' concerns about a lack of investment into bee research. The beekeepers were seeking an £8 million research fund to investigate the reasons for a rise in the number of bee deaths (around a quarter of bees have died compared to no more than a tenth normally) and poor harvests.

A number of beekeepers from the Carshalton area in Westminster for the lobby met with Tom Brake MP for Carshalton and Wallington who has pledged to take up their concerns.

Tom said, "With bees worth around £170 million to agriculture through the work they do pollinating the plants that provide much of the food we eat, we cannot afford to overlook the impact of bee deaths on our whole eco-system. A research programme must be started without delay."