Labour saying little to dispel the view nothing will change

2 October 2009

If there is a single issue that has defined farming’s uneasy relationship with the current Government, it is badgers and bovine TB.

While other crises that generated ill-feeling, notably foot-and-mouth 2001 and 2007 and the Single Payments fiasco, have come and gone, the badger issue has been a constant source of anger and resentment among farmers, almost from day one.

Soon after coming into power in 1997, the Labour Government halted badger culling, which had been going in one form or another since 1973.

On the recommendations of a report by Prof John Krebs, commissioned by the Conservatives, it initiated the Randomised Badger Culling Trials (RBCT) in 1998 to establish the effect of badger culling on disease incidence in cattle.

It took a further nine years for the trial to yield results and a further year for Defra Secretary Hilary Benn to finally reveal his decision not to cull badgers.

In the meantime, the disease has spread relentlessly across the country, causing the slaughter of 40,000 cattle in 2008, compared with 6,000 a decade earlier.

Various consultations and TB action plans launched in this time did little to dissuade farmers the Government has been ‘hiding behind’ the badger trial work to put off making the difficult decision over this period.

Embroiled

Most farmers remain convinced politics, not science, is behind the lack of a badger cull.

They point to the close links of the party - which boasts of the Government’s ‘proud record on animal welfare’ on its website - with the animal welfare lobby, epitomised by some of those in charge of bTB policy over the years, including Elliott Morley, who has stood down after being embroiled in the MPs’ expenses scandal.

Ministers who felt differently either got nowhere while in office, in the case of Jeff Rooker, or only felt able to speak out afterwards, in the cases of Nick Brown or Jane Kennedy.

Nonetheless, Mr Benn has always insisted his decision was made on the basis of the evidence in front of him. It convinced him while a cull ‘might work, it might also not work’ and could end up making the disease worse if it was not sustained over time or delivered effectively.

But he also cited ‘public opposition’ as a factor in the decision, opening him up to further claims politics also played a big part.

We are not in a position where we will not listen to new science or new evidence
Jim Fizpatrick

The announcement of new funding for badger and cattle vaccination did little to pacify farmers, who felt if culling ‘might work’, it should be given the best chance to do so, given the failure of the cattle controls to curb disease spread and the timescale placed on vaccine development.

Mr Benn has, in theory, left the door ajar, insisting he will review the decision if new evidence emerges a badger cull could make a difference.

The farmers, vets and Defra officials in the TB Eradication Group he set up last year, eventually won the right to review the evidence behind a badger cull.

Those on the group, which is due to report soon on a proposed a new TB policy for England, believe there has been a shift in attitudes within Defra on this issue over the past year.

They say minds have been focused by the recent surge in cases, the move towards a cull in Wales and a hardening of attitudes in the two other main political parties, leaving Defra isolated on the issue. Then there is new evidence emerging from ongoing analysis of the RBCT showing culling is more effective than initially stated.

Farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick insists nothing has been ruled out - but is not exactly ruling anything in.

“Hilary Benn looked at the science last year and, based on the conclusions, said we are not going to have a cull. He set up the TB Eradication Group and he has made it clear we are not in a position where we will not listen to new science or new evidence,” he says.

It will take more than that to convince a sceptical farming community they will see any change on this subject, if Labour is returned to power next spring.