Labour announces plan to end badger culling by 2029 in new bovine TB strategy

BTB is recognised as a problem which “devastates” farm businesses, forcing more than 278,000 cattle to be compulsorily slaughtered.

Badger culling has long been a part of the government response to the disease, as the animals can easily pass it on to cows, despite criticism from wildlife and animal welfare campaigners.

More than 230,000 badgers have been killed in efforts to control bTB, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) saying this costs taxpayers more than £100 million every year.

The Labour government has said it will use a “data-led and scientific approach” to tackling bTB, and phase out budget culling.

Defra has said it will carry out the first badger population survey in over a decade and create a new national wildlife surveillance programme, which aims to monitor disease levels amongst wildlife.

A new taskforce will also aim to improve bTB vaccination rates amongst badgers, and develop a new cattle vaccine

Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, Daniel Zeichner said: “Bovine tuberculosis has devastated British farmers and wildlife for far too long.  

“It has placed dreadful hardship and stress on farmers who continue to suffer the loss of valued herds and has taken a terrible toll on our badger populations.   

“No more. Our comprehensive bTB eradication package will allow us to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and stop the spread of this horrific disease."  

Sir Keir Starmer has faced criticism from campaigners for not ending badger culls sooner. Sir Brian May, 77, who has been campaigning on this issue for more than a decade, said the “whole animal community is very disappointed in the way that the new Labour Government is behaving”.

“They came into power with a manifesto which said that they were going to stop badger culling because it was ineffective, that’s actually in the manifesto,” the Queen guitarist said.

“And they’re actually not stopping it, they’re allowing it to continue at least until 2026 under the existing licences. Keir Starmer does have the power to squash those licences and call a hold right now, on the basis that the badger cull has not worked and he’s not done that, and we’re very disappointed.”

NFU president Tom Bradshaw previously said it would be a “tragedy” if the Labour stopped badger culls early, while other farming figures said vaccinating cattle would not be a “silver bullet”.

Mr Bradshaw said: “I just think it would be a tragedy now if cannot continue the progress that’s been made and get to this point where we can look to a TB-free England and Wales,” he said.

“That 2038 [eradication] target is a very, very difficult target.  There is no easy way to get there. But we won’t get there if we’re not using all the tools in the toolbox.”