Benn branded ‘spineless’ after badger decision

Following the Commons statement, Torridge and Devon West MP Geoffrey Cox described the decision as a ‘spineless abdication of responsibility'.

Shadow Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said the decision confirmed Mr Benn was ‘very nice man who had not delivered anything'.

Referring to previous comments from Food and Farming Minister Jeff Rooker in favour of a badger cull, Mr Paice challenged the Defra Secretary to state whether the decision was unanimous across all Defra Ministers.

The NFU is considering challenging the decision in the courts. It has instructed QC Richard Lissack to examine the merits of taking on the case.

NFU president Peter Kendall has warned that discussions with Government on cost and responsibility sharing on animal disease would be ‘untenable, faced with what could only be described as an abdication of responsibility on the issue of TB'.

He said the decision was ‘completely devastating' to farming families and their businesses.

The NFU will be leading a demonstration in Westminster tomorrow. National Beef Association chairman Duff Burrell said the NBA would join the union in its protest.

“The Association remains acutely disappointed that no immediate action on badger culling will be taken but the formation of a new core group means that cattle farmers have still got a foot in Defra's negotiating door and must seize the chance to make the most use of it,” Mr Burrell said.

Tenant Farmers Association chairman, Greg Bliss said: "The decision not to tackle the problem of TB in badgers appears to have been made as a spineless attempt to stop an unpopular Government's ratings from declining further in the eyes of the public.

“However, in so doing, this Government, as in so many other ways, has turned its back on hard-working families.

"The Government cares not a jot if they lose this livelihood because they lose their animals to TB."

British Veterinary Association president Nick Blayney said that the veterinary profession was ‘deeply concerned about the ongoing lack of disease control and the resulting impact on cattle and badger health and welfare'.

“Be in no doubt, to date measures directed at cattle alone have not led to disease control,” he said.

“It is hard to see how the Minister can expect either dairy farmers or the veterinary profession to ‘move forward' in tackling the disease when nothing, other than yet another group, albeit under a new name - the Bovine TB Partnership Group - is envisaged for the foreseeable future.

"Both badgers and cattle are significant animals in the spread of TB as all the science agrees.”

The Badger Trust hailed the decision. Its spokesman, Trevor Lawson, said: “We are delighted that Hilary Benn has based his decision on sound science. The Government and the farming industry can now move forwards together in controlling the disease in a way which supports rather than harms the industry.

"Eradication is a long way off, but the science clearly shows that control is rapidly within our grasp, provided that the farming unions are prepared to work towards it."