Bovine TB

I agree with the hon. Gentleman when he describes the situation as very sad, and I am sorry to hear about the effect on his herd. However, the answers were not based on populism: they were based on an assessment of the science. I assure him that I ignored nothing. I apologise to the House for having taken a year to reach a decision on this issue, but I took the responsibility placed on me very seriously. I have looked at all the evidence and I have talked to all those who have a view. Sir David King looked at the science and said what the effect would be if we met all the conditions. By his own acknowledgement, he did not consider the practicality. In reaching a decision, I am bound to consider both the science and the practicality. Self-evidently, if all the badgers were, for the sake of argument, to be culled—[Interruption.] I know that no one has argued for that, but my point is that the science only takes us so far. I also have to consider practicality and effectiveness, and whether a cull could be delivered. My judgment is that it might not work in those circumstances. The evidence base is strong, because the one substantive bit of evidence that we have about the impact of culling is the randomised badger trials, which were carried out over 10 years. I met the teams who are working on the vaccines about six weeks ago. The advice that I have received is that putting more money in will help to improve the likelihood of getting a successful vaccine, but will not of itself speed up the process. On the issue of compensation, we are awaiting the outcome of a judicial review, and it would be prudent to see what that judgment is. How many of those in the industry will support the group that I am establishing? I hope that people will support that group, because whatever the anger, disappointment and other strong feelings that they will have about the decision that I have made—and announced to the House today—the disease will remain, we will have to deal with it, and we will be able to do that only by working together.