Badger Trust slams Labour’s backpedalling on badger cull

The recent announcement by Labour’s shadow Defra secretary, Steve Reed, regarding the continuation of the badger cull has sparked “confusion and disappointment” among wildlife advocates.

Labour’s general election manifesto described badger culling as “ineffective” in addressing bovine TB in cattle.

However, Mr Reed confirmed that Labour would allow pre-existing cull licences to continue until 2026 if the party wins the election on 4 July.

Farming and rural organisations including the Countryside Alliance have welcomed the announcement that Labour will not end culling overnight, insisting that the latest peer-reviewed scientific analysis of Defra’s badger control policy in England shows an average 56% decline in TB rates after four years of culling.

See also: Analysis: What would a Labour government do for food and farming?

But the Badger Trust said Labour’s decision contradicts the hopes of pro-wildlife communities who expected an immediate end to the cull, if the party wins power.

Mr Reed recently told BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme that a Labour government would continue to allow pre-existing badger culling licences to continue.

He said an immediate end to the cull would send “sudden shocks into the system”.

These licences can run for another 18 months until 2026 and could result in a further 30,000 badgers being culled, according to the Badger Trust, which has also raised concerns about the potential breach of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.

Some Badger Trust supporters are so incensed by Labour’s decision not to end culling overnight if it wins power, that they have decided to change their voting intentions in the election.

Last month, it emerged that culling licensee Natural England had also decided to issue supplementary licences for badgers to be killed across 17 existing and nine unnamed new zones this year, sparking fury at the Badger Trust.

Party culling stances

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has stated that badger culling in England will continue if the Conservatives win the election. The Liberal Democrats’ manifesto makes no mention of badger culling, but suggests a move towards vaccination.

“Developing safe, effective, humane, and evidence-based ways of controlling bovine TB, including by investing to produce workable vaccines,” it says.

Wildlife conservationists are campaigning for alternatives to culling, such as improved biosecurity measures, more reliable testing and cattle vaccination to control bovine TB.