Defra removes pro-cull farmer from Bovine TB Partnership

Defra has downsized the number of board members on its Bovine TB Partnership, but maintains it still has a good balance of interests from across the farming industry.

Cheshire dairy farmer Phil Latham and Devon farm vet Dick Sibley have been told their membership on the board will not be extended. Meanwhile, Prof Rosie Hall, nature and science director at the National Trust, has resigned.

Mr Latham, an outspoken supporter of badger culling to tackle bovine TB, said he found out by a phone call and an email that Defra had chosen not to extend his three-year term on the board for the coming 12 months.

See also: Is England on track for a healthy cattle herd and TB-free future?

“It’s been an absolute privilege to have been in the TB Partnership and I wish it well going forward,” Mr Latham told Farmers Weekly.

But he added: “I feel the partnership struggles though, because it is thin-skinned politicians – whether that’s Welsh politicians or Westminster politicians –  who actually are making TB policy.

“They’re not listening to the evidence, and they are making entirely political choices. This is the problem with TB governance; what we’re always struggling with as farmers is the governance model.”

Science-based policy ‘critical’

Mr Latham said farmers must continue to have a voice in the governance model, and it is “absolutely critical” TB policy must be a science-based.

But he warned the government’s decision to phase out badger culling in England before a viable alternative can be found will only see TB rates rising again.

“The only thing we’ve done that has had an impact on TB is a population density reduction exercise in badgers in the endemic area under licence,” Mr Latham insisted. “Unless we keep the population down, we will return to where we were.”

Mr Latham believes a cattle vaccine for commercial use and the associated Diva diagnostic test will not be ready in 2025 – and possibly not until at least 2028.

Defra is exploring the concept of an “epi-culling” policy, which would allow ministers to intervene and remove badgers in areas of England where a cluster of new TB herd breakdowns are linked to disease transmission in wildlife.  

Mr Latham understands Defra wants to keep culling to a minimum, but asks: “What hope is there for my own county, Cheshire, where the Apha epi reports attribute 65% of herd breakdowns to badgers?”

No South West voice

Mr Sibley expressed frustration that Defra had chosen not to extend his board membership, meaning there is no longer a representative from the South West, which has a third of all TB outbreaks.

Without better TB testing tools, Mr Sibley believes Defra has “no chance” of eradicating TB in England by 2038. He said his request to Defra ministers to invest a further £15m in better testing each year was overlooked.

“I think that badger culling has done some good, but we cannot afford to lose that momentum,” he said. “We cannot ignore the other half of the equation, which is the residual infection in the cow population.”

Defra launched the Bovine TB Partnership in February 2021 as a replacement for the Bovine TB Eradication Advisory Group for England (TBEAG) to improve co-ordination and shared ownership of policy, as recommended by the Godfray Review.

The partnership, which is chaired by John Cross, make recommendations to government on TB policy. But ultimately, ministers are tasked with making the decisions.