Badger Culling

The badger has an honoured place in Welsh literature and history—it is known in Wales as mochyn d...

I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman—I do not agree, clearly, but I am listening carefu...

We could go through every country in the world—I will mention a few others—but I am talking about...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the problem with relating badger culling in England to killing pos...

Indeed, yes. It is deer in Australia, and there are various problems throughout the world, but in...

Is that not even more perverse, given that the badger population is responsible for only about 5....

As we know, there is a great deal of confused and unscientific thinking about this issue. TB can ...

TB is also spread by the spreading of slurry on fields. That is not tested, so other measures cou...

That is a really serious problem. We have been permissive in allowing the spreading of slurry. As...

I am sorry that I was not here at the beginning of the hon. Gentleman’s speech—there are certain ...

That is an entirely intellectually respectable and humane approach to this issue. Krebs looked at...

My hon. Friend is being incredibly generous with his time. Is it not really perverse that, throug...

That demonstrates the Government’s amateurish approach. They wish to get the animals out of the w...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his excellent speech. As he concludes his remarks, does he agree...

Indeed. Unfortunately, because the Welsh Government are the only Labour Government in the United ...

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Streeter, and to see my hon. Friend t...

I am listening carefully to my hon. Friend’s excellent speech. Does he agree that those who oppos...

Order. A reminder that interventions should be brief.

I commend my hon. Friend for putting some of the facts about wildlife on the record. He is right ...

Will the hon. Gentleman be kind enough to cite the source of the evidence he just supported?

Well, the source is evident to any countryman out there. There has been a rapid decline in hedgeh...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Provided it is not on that subject.

It is on facts and evidence. The hon. Gentleman is generous in giving way. Clearly TB is a terrib...

I am so glad that the hon. Gentleman mentioned Wales. In Wales, although BTB has decreased, the c...

rose—

I suggest to the hon. Gentleman, before he asks me to give way, that other factors are involved. ...

rose—

Will the hon. Gentleman please be patient? I will give way in a minute. He is jumping up and down...

The hon. Gentleman is generous. I never suggested that vaccination alone was a solution. The chie...

I was coming on to the issue of biosecurity, which obviously has something to do with it, as do m...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No. I did say that I was not going to give way again. Other people want to speak. By the time I f...

As I was saying, we need to use all the methods at our disposal to get on top of this dreadful di...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I said I would not, but since we have had a break, I will give way one more time and no more.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. He is highlighting some alleged facts in rela...

I simply say to the hon. Gentleman, who is an intelligent chap, that every bit of logic points to...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Streeter. I am pleased to follow the hon. M...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will of course, although I have not said anything yet!

May I first refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which I forgot to ...

I am always happy to condemn violence and intimidation of any kind.

I congratulate the lead...

I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn) on leading the debate. I want ...

I share a similar position to that of my hon. Friend in the BVA, which believes:

“Badger cu...

I am afraid that the BVA is a faith of many churches. To some extent, it probably depends on whic...

I, too, am an honorary life member of the BVA. The BVA has made it clear that it does not support...

There is an attitude that we have to use every shot—unfortunately literally in this case—in the l...

I did not expect there to be time for me to speak—I am a late entry—so I am extremely grateful to...

The farmers would not want a cull if there was another way of doing it, because it is very expens...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I am unlucky enough to represent a constituency in one of the ...

Does my hon. Friend quarrel with the fact that in the vaccination areas there has been, at worst,...

My hon. Friend made my next point for me. I absolutely recognise that there is a discrepancy betw...

The hon. Gentleman’s speech gives rise to two suggestions. One is that he might argue, along with...

I think that you, Mr Paisley, would come after us if we went down the road of discussing the meri...

It seems extraordinary that the hon. Gentleman brushes aside the fact that Ireland has slaughtere...

I suspect that the Minister will deal with the second part of that intervention. As for the first...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn) on opening this debate with an excel...

I join my hon. Friend in commending the work done in Scotland to ensure that we have been certifi...

I absolutely agree, particularly in relation to the evident risks of the spread of infection if a...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Paisley, and to have the opportunity to res...

I am sorry to bore Members with this, but that is an annual figure. The hon. Lady needs to look a...

It may well be an annual figure, but there is still an extraordinarily significant difference bet...

It is 10 years.

Well, I consider it to be extraordinary, and I think that many colleagues do, as well.

The policing costs for the cull areas would be zero if it were not for the effects of the protest...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. It only goes to show that we really need proper ...

Does my hon. Friend agree that vaccination has the effect of giving immunity on a continuing basi...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. The important thing is that we have effective long-t...

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Paisley. I congratulate all the petiti...

Will the Minister compare that with what the Irish Government did? They took every action possibl...

I was going to return to that matter later, but as the hon. Gentleman has raised it I can deal wi...

Will the Minister not acknowledge that in their earliest days, the last Labour Government did act...

Obviously the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak had an impact, but my point is that there was a loss o...

The Minister has accurately noted some of the initiatives he mentioned at the conclusion of his s...

We publish the disease surveillance data annually in August. To pick up on the point that the hon...

I have been listening very carefully to what the Minister has been saying. I do not understand ho...

The issue was looked at extensively during the randomised badger culling trials, and we know that...

I am grateful to the Minister for being so generous with his time. He has given various examples ...

It was always recognised that the trials did not have controls alongside them in a scientific way...

I thank the Minister for being generous in giving way, and just for people to be clear, my consti...

The full benefits of that RBCT trial presented themselves in the years after the report was concl...

What we are hearing is all very welcome news indeed. I am pleased to have it on the record, but i...

I was moving on to that. Data on bovine TV incidence in the cull areas are published annually. Be...

Will the Minister give way?

I am afraid I have given way generously. I will press on because I believe we may have a Division...

I extend my gratitude to everyone who has returned to the debate, as some hon. Members will have ...

There has been universal agreement across the House on one point in the debate: if we can find an...

One of the challenges of TB is that it is a bacterial disease, and it is notoriously hard to get ...

The reply that we have had from the Minister is very disappointing. He has said that he will not ...