NFU Conference 2023: Defra to use ‘every tool’ to tackle TB

Farming minister Mark Spencer has vowed Defra will continue to use every single tool in the toolbox to tackle bovine TB in England, including badger culling where necessary.

Speaking to the Farmers Weekly Podcast, Mr Spencer said he was encouraged that fewer cattle herds in England were under TB restrictions than at any point in the past 12 years, which he described as “a massive step forward”.

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But he warned: “We’ve not won this battle, so we’ve got to use every tool in the toolbox.

“That includes vaccination of badgers and it might include vaccination of cattle at some point in the future, if we get that credible vaccine.”

Asked why Defra had not released the 2022 badger cull figures, Mark Spencer said: “I honestly do not know.”

He said Defra would continue to follow a science-led policy to tackle bovine TB, including the culling of badgers if the science showed this was necessary.

“We are just starting to win this battle [to eradicate bovine TB], but we have not won the war,” Mr Spencer said.

Following the science

NFU president Minette Batters told reporters she was pleased that both Labour and the Conservatives were talking about following the science to tackle bovine TB going forward.

She said the NFU has always wanted to de-politicise this issue and focus on dealing with the disease, not the politics that surround it.

“We have got great figures out. Let’s build on that and let’s get this disease out of there. There is a real danger now that we politicise it in the run-up to an election,” she added.

“I don’t want to see it in political manifestos. I want to see a commitment that we are going to eradicate this disease, rather than a political view from either side.”