Food, Farming and the Environment

On the right hon. Gentleman's first question, in all honesty the answer is as soon as possible. Discussion is taking place at local level, not least because for the trials to be successful we need people in the areas that have been identified to be up for taking part. I hope that he will bear with that process, because I believe that the right approach is to win support and involvement so that the trials work successfully. On the right hon. Gentleman's second question, I repeat what I have said before about badgers with TB. As he will be well aware from his knowledge and expertise, there is a practical difficulty in attempting to identify badgers that have the disease, because there is not yet a reliable in-field test. There is provision in legislation for those responsible to take what they regard as appropriate action on badgers or any animals that are clearly very sick and on their last legs, if it is to relieve easily visible suffering. That is on the statute book and has remained there for quite some time. If regulation is wrong, we take action. Why did we appeal against the judgment on pesticides in the Downs case? It was precisely because we thought it was right to do so. We have opposed Europe's wish to get us to agree to new controls on pesticides, because nobody can answer the question of what that would mean for the availability of particular substances. The Government have been leading in Europe on arguing that case. The hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. Reid) made an important point about electronic identification for sheep. I have met sheep farmers from right across the country, and I know that a lot of them are very concerned about that. I am on record as saying that the costs outweigh the benefits, which is why we pushed for, and succeeded in getting, a delay in implementation and why we were able to get the slaughter derogation. It is why we are currently trying in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health to get agreement that recording can be done by third parties—in other words, at the market, not on the farm. That would significantly reduce the burden on farmers. I have just written to all my fellow Agriculture Ministers in Europe to say that if we get that change, there will be a pretty strong case for saying that an electronic tag needs to be put on a sheep's ear only when it is about to leave the farm holding. That would require the European Commission to come forward with a change to regulation, and for that to happen we need other member states to come forward and support the UK and other countries such as Ireland, Hungary and one or two others that have been expressing concern about sheep EID. That change would save farmers from having to scour the hills and tops from the date of implementation to find their sheep and attach ear tags. As we know, in any given year 10 to 15 per cent. of the tags may fall out, so they would have to be found and replaced. The change would be a practical step. It is different from third-party reporting, which can be brought in by comitology. It would require a revision to regulation, which depends on the Commission. I assure the House the I will continue to press the point, but I need support from other member states.