Tories and Labour clash over badger cull costs

A bitter row has broken out between Labour and the Conservatives over the economic merits of the badger cull to tackle bovine TB.

Labour said abandoning the government’s culls would save the taxpayer an estimated £24.5m a year and 122.5m in the next parliament.

The plans were revealed in a Labour interim spending review of every pound spent by the government and how the party would cut the budget deficit if it were in power.

See also: Bovine TB fall not enough, says NFU

Shadow Defra secretary Maria Eagle said: “Millions of pounds have been wasted on a badger cull which experts advise will make no meaningful contribution to eradicating bovine TB. 

“This Tory-led government never should have pressed ahead with these ineffective and inhumane badger culls when they knew from the start that this policy had the potential to make the problem of bovine TB worse.

“Instead of ignoring the overwhelming evidence the government must work with scientists, wildlife groups and farmers to develop an alternative strategy to get the problem of bovine TB under control.”

But the Conservatives hit back at Labour’s claims and insisted that scrapping the culls would result in costing the taxpayer up £1bn over the next decade if the reservoir of disease in badgers is not reduced.

“Bovine TB is the biggest threat to the future of our beef and dairy industries and will cost us £1bn over the next decade. Doing nothing is not an option – it will in fact end up costing us more.”
Conservative party spokesman

A Conservative party spokesman said: “Bovine TB is the biggest threat to the future of our beef and dairy industries and will cost us £1bn over the next decade. Doing nothing is not an option – it will in fact end up costing us more. 

“We will continue to take the difficult decisions to tackle this disease and, having left us with the highest rates of bovine TB in Europe. It’s shocking that Labour is once again choosing to bury its head in the sand.”

MPs from both parties clashed in a heated debate on the badger cull in parliament on Thursday (12 March).

Farm minister George Eustice, Conservative MP for Camborne and Redruth, said: “This is a slow-moving, difficult disease and it has to be hit hard and early, which the previous (Labour) government failed to do.”

Mr Eustice highlighted the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) carried out under Labour, which he said gave “incontrovertible” proof that, over time, culling badgers led to a “significant reduction” in bovine TB.

The minister added: “It is absolutely wrong for Labour to say that it will ignore the evidence and the advice of the chief veterinary officer.

“On the costs in the first year, the cull clearly had elements of analysis, post-mortem, research and policing that will not be present when we roll it out more widely. We are committed to having a badger cull as part of our 25-year strategy.”

However, shadow farm minister Huw Irranca-Davies, Labour MP for Ogmore, said the £50m RBCT trial over 10 years concluded that culling badgers offered “no meaningful contribution to the eradication of TB”.

He added: “The government’s badger culls have not just been a disaster for wildlife, but come at a huge financial cost.

“In the first year of the culls, the government spent £9.8m. With ministers proposing to extend the badger culls, possibly to 10 areas and after that to 40 areas, how much more can taxpayers expect to fork out for these ineffective and inhumane badger culls?”