On 6 February 2024, in the face of strong opposition from farmers in the EU and their trade bodies such as COPA COGECA, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the abandonment of the proposed Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products Regulation, which contained the Commission’s aim to halve pesticide use. This had been an important part of the Commission’s ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy and its Green Deal.
The re-establishment of devolved government in Northern Ireland was the subject of intense negotiations for months before conclusions were announced by the UK government and the leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party ‘DUP’, and with the publication on 31 January 2024 of the Command Paper ‘Safeguarding the Union’ (CP 1021).