Here is the uplifting and positive response that I have received from Hugh Bayley, Labour MP for York. It is lengthy but well worth reading: Dear Dr Bunnell, Thank you for contacting me about the Backbench Business Debate on the Government’s badger cull which took place in the House of Commons on 13 March. I attended the debate and voted in favour of the motion which stated that the Government’s pilot culls had “decisively failed” and called on the government to halt their badger culls, and to work with the scientific evidence on an alternative strategy based on badger vaccination and cattle measures. I attended the debate except for the period when I was chairing a debate in Westminster Hall, the House of Commons’ second chamber. This was a long-standing commitment which meant I was not able to speak in the badger cull debate since I could not be there for the whole time. I was one of 219 MPs who voted against the cull and for halting further culls. Only one Conservative MP voted in favour of the cull. It was an overwhelming defeat for the Government but unfortunately does not bind them to abandon their policy. However, the House of Commons expressed a very clear view against the mass cull of badgers and there is now cross-party support for a new consensus based on vaccination and other measures. The evidence does not support the Government’s policy and it is clear that Ministers have repeatedly chosen to ignore the scientific advice they have received. As Labour repeatedly warned would be the case, the trial badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset failed. Prior to the start of the trials, the Government stated “it would be wrong to go ahead if those on the ground cannot be confident of removing at least 70 per cent of the populations” and “the killing/taking of badgers must be limited to a six-week cull period specified in each licence.” However, as it became clear that the trials were not succeeding, Ministers wrongly backed extensions beyond the six-week limit and revised downwards the 70 per cent target reduction in the badger population within each trial area. Therefore, contrary to Owen Paterson’s ridiculous claim that “the badgers moved the goalposts” it was in fact the Secretary of State who repeatedly did so. Even after the culls were extended, the badger population in the Gloucestershire trial was only reduced by an estimated 65 per cent, while the trial in Somerset achieved a population reduction of just 39 per cent at the time it was abandoned. The Government has also been forced to admit that only twenty-four per cent of the badgers killed were by controlled shooting, which was precisely the method that the pilots were supposed to be testing. It is estimated that these failed culls may have cost as much as £7million to date, equivalent to more than £4,000 per badger killed. Most worryingly, leading independent scientists have warned that the decision to extend the cull and the failure to cull seventy per cent of the badger population may have increased the spread of bovine TB as a result of perturbation. The Government now states that it is awaiting the report of the Independent Expert Panel before making a decision whether to approve a further ten culls, and then a full roll-out entailing forty culls across the UK. However, they have stated that the Panel’s report is only to be permitted to cover “the initial cull period, not the extensions”. Owen Paterson has also suggested that the report of the Independent Expert Panel will be just one part of the decision on whether to continue with the policy of culling. It is completely unacceptable for the Government to seek to restrict the scope of the report in this way and to hint that they may continue with this failed policy regardless of its conclusions and the will of the House of Commons. Government ministers said the Panel’s report would be published in February, but they failed to meet this deadline. Leaked press reports have confirmed that the pilot culls have clearly not only failed the test of effectiveness, but have failed the government’s own test of humaneness too. Labour called on the Government in last week’s debate to abandon their failed policy. To press ahead with further culls would not only be unscientific, but irresponsible and reckless. MPs must have the opportunity of a further vote before the Government gives approval to any continuation of their failed culling policy. We do need a serious strategy to eradicate bovine TB, but it has to be based on the science. It is time to restore evidence-based policy making, which Labour will do if we win the next election. All the evidence and expert advice that I have seen suggests that the most effective strategy will need to focus on badger vaccination and enhanced measures to address herd to herd transmission, including compulsory post-movement testing, a comprehensive risk-based trading system, and more robust bio-security on farms. If elected, Labour will work with farmers, wildlife groups and leading scientists to develop this alternative strategy to eradicate bovine TB, including tackling TB in badgers. In the meantime, the current Government must now work with Labour, leading scientists, and farmers to develop alternative approaches to tackle bovine TB. In the debate, my colleague Huw Irranca-Davies MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Minister, pressed the Government to commit to a full debate and vote in Government time before any decision to proceed with an existing or new cull takes place. However, the Minister, George Eustice, refused to provide this assurance. My Labour Party colleagues and I will continue to press the Government to honour the will of the House, listen to the scientific evidence and the views of the public and drop its failed policy of culling badgers. Yours sincerely, Hugh Bayley Labour MP for York Central
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:05:28 +0000
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