By unlocking the export potential China offers the pig industry, not to mention the red meat sector as a whole, we could gain entry into a marketplace which comprises a fifth of the world’s population.Conservative manifesto tackles badgers and foxes
A CONSERVATIVE Government would introduce a comprehensive package of measures to tackle TB in cattle and badgers and give MPs a free vote to repeal the fox hunting ban, it has been confirmed.
The Tory election manifesto, launched by David Cameron this morning (Tuesday, April 13), said bovine TB had led to the slaughter of over 250,000 cattle since 1997.
In what is seen as a key point of difference with the Labour Party it pledged to tackle the disease which it described as ‘the most pressing animal health problem in the UK’ through ‘a carefully-managed and science-led policy of badger control’.
“While vaccination is an important part of the long-term solution we cannot afford to wait until 2014 when this may be available.
“A carefully managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas of high and persistent levels of TB in cattle is necessary to eradicate this disease,” Jim Paice, Shadow Farm Minister told Farmers Guardian.
In another controversial move, the Conservative manifesto also promised to give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote.
“The Hunting Act has proved unworkable,” it says.
The Conservative’s overall manifesto message to farmers and voters was to promote ‘a sustainable and productive’ agriculture.
The Party pledged to create the conditions for farmers to ‘thrive’ against overseas competitors by introducing an independent supermarket ombudsman, ensuring honest food labelling, overhauling farm regulations and pushing for the abolition of production subsidies across the rest of Europe.
It set out plans to develop a legally binding protocol covering the separation of GM and non-GM material but added it would not permit the commercial planting of GM ‘unless it had been assessed as safe for people and the environment’.
The Tories also laid out their green credentials asking voters to ‘Vote Blue, Go Green’.
“We will encourage private sector investment to put Britain at the forefront of the green technology revolution, creating jobs and new businesses across the country,” says the manifesto.
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Readers' comments (22)
Bucks country person | 13 April 2010 1:41 pm
I've just read the manifesto and I don't see where it mentions either foxes or badgers. Please can you elaborate?
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William Surman | 13 April 2010 2:25 pm
Please refer to page 80 (hunting) and page 97 (TB) of the manifesto found on the Conservative website: http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Manifesto.aspx
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Anonymous | 13 April 2010 2:27 pm
The fox huntiers are getting on just fine without stirring up a whole new hornets nest
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eryl jones | 13 April 2010 2:58 pm
just like when labour came in in 1997 they did not repeal any of the tory trade union laws, the torys will not sanction any badger cull in england nor will they do anything about the hunting with dogs act. No incoming government will overturn any law that is popular with the majority of the voters.
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Anonymous | 13 April 2010 3:32 pm
Fox Hunting never helped my farm. In fact they made things worse, trampling all over my fields thinking they can do whatever they like. Fox Hunting is cruel and should never be part of the British culture. We need to move away from violence.
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Anonymous | 13 April 2010 3:40 pm
The hunting act is not only unworkable it positively discriminates against animal welfare. See DEFFRA's advice promoting cruel slow death by snaring or shooting with risk of gangrene and no close season for foxes to breed safely.
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Anonymous | 13 April 2010 4:23 pm
How can hunting with hounds be unworkable and discriminate against animal welfare? It is easy to legislate laws, thats how they become LAWS. Its had a shaky start but I am optimistic that it will work. There is no scientific evidence that suggests that foxes are overrunning the countryside. They are intelligent animals and have never been classed as vermin. This is the sort of nonsense that is being served up to the public in defence of the sport and their favourite past time, they must think we're all completely stupid. Hunters don't give a toss about the welfare of animals. The don't even care about their own dogs who are often killed on roads by cars because the hunters cannot control them.
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Anonymous | 13 April 2010 5:21 pm
what about deer hunting and hare coursing to name just two other hunting issues - what is their policy on these?
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Anonymous | 13 April 2010 6:39 pm
People break the speed limit - does this mean we should repeal the law? The fact that a small but vocal sector of the community think themselves above the law is not reason enough to repeal the Hunting Act. Get over it and stop whinging.
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Anonymous | 14 April 2010 12:43 pm
Jim Paice claimns the slaughter of badgers will be science led. This from the Party that rejects a 10-year study by handpicked scientists in favour of a 48-hour desk study by David King. This is the Party that claims that slaughtering badgers is the way to have "healthy badgers alongside healthy cattle"! Paice says publicly that the PCR (Polmerase Chain Reaction) technique will identify "diseased setts". It can't and it won't. See the TB Advisory Group's conclusions. Any "cull" will be non selective. It will kill mostly disease-free badgers, many of them with immunity to TB. So where are these healthy badgers magically going to appear from. Absolute tosh.This is the Party that tries to convince the public (we're all thickheads, of course) that the countryside is full of badgers dying in agony and therefore the cull is "as much a welfare issue for badgers as it is for cattle". This is the worst kind of political spin. Try to fool the public by claiming you're trying to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist. As for fox hunting, stag hunting and hare coursing they are despised blood sports beloved by the old Tory Party and hated by the vast majority of people who do actually care about wild animals.
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