Shadow Defra Secretary Nick Herbert issued a statement today (Tuesday, May 19), ‘renewing the Conservatives' commitment to tackling bovine TB', following meetings with local farmers in Devon.

He restated his Party's intention to ‘pursue a targeted cull of infected badgers as part of a broad strategy' to tackle the problem.

“The Conservatives understand the desperate need to take action now and that is why we support the views of many farmers that a targeted cull of badgers must be a part of the action necessary to tackle Bovine TB,” Mr Herbert said.

“This is an animal welfare issue. Everybody loses from the Government running away from this problem – cattle are being slaughtered, badgers are suffering, farmers' livelihoods are being damaged, and taxpayers are footing the bill.”

“We cannot go on slaughtering tens of thousands of cattle while ignoring the reservoir of infection in wildlife.

“Sick badgers are responsible for a significant number of herd breakdowns and unless there is a policy to remove them we stand little chance of eradicating this terrible disease.”

Mr Herbert attacked the Government's approach of ‘waiting for a vaccine which is years away from practical application'.

He said this was ‘simply irresponsible while thousands of cattle and increasing numbers of other animals become infected'.

“The Conservatives want to see healthy cattle living alongside healthy wildlife but at the moment in many parts of the country we have neither,” he said.

Commenting on his visit to Devon, he pointed out that almost twice as many cattle were slaughtered in the county last year than in the whole of the UK in 1997. There are also signs that the disease is spreading to other species, he said.

His comments represent a significant development in the long-running debate over how bTB should be tackled, currently being extensively discussed in Farmers Guardian's Target TB campaign.

With a General Election due next year and the Tories enjoying a huge lead in the opinion polls, it could be a matter of months, rather than years, before this commitment is put to the test.