Skip to main content
Site logo

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Meet your MP
  • Events
  • In Parliament
  • COVID-19 Recovery Survey
  • Campaign Responses
  • Coronavirus Advice
  • Contact
Site logo

Badger Cull

  • Tweet

Thank you for contacting me about controlling the spread of bovine TB.
 
The UK’s bovine TB eradication strategy is founded in the lessons of previous attempts to control the disease, as well as evidence from other countries around the world. This strategy includes a policy of regular testing and removal of infected cattle from herds, as well as tougher restrictions on cattle movements from herds at risk of infection and measures to encourage greater risk management in areas where the disease is rife.
 
The badger cull has led to a significant reduction in the disease, but no one wants to continue the cull of this protected species indefinitely. That is why the Government asked Sir Charles Godfray to conduct a review, which concluded in October 2018. Earlier this year, in response to that review, the Government set out its intended next steps. 
 
The current BCG vaccine will never provide full protection, so funding will be made available to accelerate the research and trial work needed to achieve the aim of having a deployable vaccine in the next five years. Alongside this, an exit strategy from the intensive culling of badgers will unfold. As soon as possible, a pilot Government-funded badger vaccination will be introduced in at least one area where the four-year cull cycle has concluded, with simultaneous surveillance of disease. The aim is to only allow future culls where the evidence points to a significant reservoir of Bovine TB in badgers. 
 
Finally, the Government will invest in the deployment of better, more frequent and more diverse cattle testing so that we are able to detect the presence of the disease earlier and remove it from cattle herds faster. Trials of new bovine TB cattle vaccinations will also get underway in England and Wales as a result of a major breakthrough by Government scientists. It is hoped that these trials will enable accelerated progress towards planned deployment of a cattle vaccine by 2025.
 
Ministers hope that areas of the country which join the current cull programme in the next few years will be able to wind down their involvement by the mid to late 2020s. Of course, there is no single answer to tackling the scourge of bTB and the Government believes that by deploying a range of policy interventions we can turn the tide on this terrible disease.
 
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Craig Whittaker MP

October 2020

Campaign Responses

  • Archived Campaign Responses
  • Abortion: Deaths following 'DIY' Home Abortions
  • Abortion and Foetal Pain
  • Agriculture Bill, Food Standards and Animal Welfare: Amendments
  • Aid: Girls in Crisis
  • Aid: Parliamentary Scrutiny
  • Aid Spending
  • Animal Experiments
  • Animals as Sentient Beings
  • Arms Sales to Israel
  • Arthritis: 'Impossible to Ignore' (Versus Arthritis)
  • Assisted Suicide
  • Asylum Seekers: Various Issues
  • Badger Cull
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Brexit: Food Poverty and UKGT
  • Brexit: Medical Supplies and Scientific Co-operation (including Galileo)
  • Brexit: UK-EU Travel
  • Build Back Better
  • Building Our Way Out (Shelter)
  • Channel Crossings: Ending People Trafficking
  • China: Persecution of Uyghur Muslims
  • Cleaner Air
  • Coronavirus: People with Disabilities
  • Coronavirus: Test and Trace
  • Cycling and Walking: Update
  • Disposable Barbecues
  • Divorce Law Reform: Updated September 2020
  • Domestic Abuse Bill
  • Domestic Abuse: Migrants
  • Domestic Homicide
  • Domestic Abuse: Universal Credit
  • Environment Bill
  • Evictions of Palestinians in Disputed Territories (EDM 529)
  • Export of Riot Control Equipment to the US
  • Fox Hunting
  • Fuel Duty and the Future of Petrol and Diesel
  • Gender Recognition Act: Update
  • Girls in Crisis (Plan International)
  • Green and Fair Recovery
  • Grenfell and Cladding
  • HS2 and the Environment
  • Heat Pumps
  • Homelessness: Crisis and Centrepoint
  • Homelessness: Social Housing (Shelter)
  • Horse Tethering
  • IVF
  • Immigration: Detention, Visas and Other Issues
  • Immigration Health Charge
  • Immigration: Points-based System
  • Israel: Peace Agreements with Bahrain and the UAE
  • Legal Aid: Asylum and Immigration Cases
  • Local Electricity Bill
  • Local Housing Allowance/Shared Accommodatio Rate
  • Microchipping Cats
  • MPs' Pay Update
  • Nazanin-Zaghari Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori: Update
  • Neonicotinoids
  • NHS Pay
  • NHS 'Privatisation'
  • NHS: Trade Deals
  • Off-payroll Working (IR35)
  • Oceans: Global Action
  • Onshore Wind Energy: Update June 2020
  • Overseas Operations Bill
  • Peat Burning
  • Planning for the Future: CPRE and Other Campaigns
  • Planning for the Future: Woodlands
  • Pregnancy and Maternity Redundancy Bill
  • Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Treaty and Trident
  • Pubs and Beer Duty
  • Radiotherapy 4 Life
  • Rail: Policy and Investment
  • Rape Crisis Services and Domestic and Sexual Abuse
  • Reception Baseline Assessment (Primary Schools)
  • Rivers - Plastic Pollution
  • Sea Blasts
  • Social Care, Key Workers and the National Living Wage
  • Social Housing
  • Sunday Trading
  • Sunscreen and VAT
  • Supertrawlers and Sustainable Fishing
  • Trade Bill: Anti-genocide Amendment
  • Trade Deals: Farming and Food Standards
  • Trade Deals: Parliamentary Scrutiny
  • Trophy Hunting Update
  • Transport Investment (#transformtransport)
  • Trespass Laws and the Right to Roam
  • Two-wheel Powered Vehicles
  • UK Internal Market Bill
  • UK Internal Market Bill: International Law
  • Whipping of Race Horses
  • Wildlife Licensing
  • Yemen: UK Involvement (Updated)
  • Youth Services

Craig Whittaker MP for Calder Valley

Footer

  • About RSS
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • About Craig
  • Campaign Responses
  • In Parliament
Site logoThis website is funded by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) for the purpose of assisting Craig Whittaker MP in the performance of their Parliamentary duties.
Copyright 2020 Craig Whittaker MP for Calder Valley. All rights reserved.
Powered by Bluetree