Inverness and Aviemore will be the focus for a Highland gathering of world experts in animal health and disease control this week.

27 March 2017

Keith Taylor MEP: ‘Badger cull is a spectacularly expensive, ineffective and inhumane policy justified by a poor understanding of the science’

Keith Taylor, Animals spokesperson for the Green Party, is calling on the Government to end the ineffective, expensive and inhumane badger cull ahead of a debate on the divisive programme in the House of Commons.

More than 100,000 people signed a petition calling for an end to the badger cull and cancellation of plans to expand the slaughter to new areas. Since 2013, thousands of badgers have been killed in a Government cull aimed at controlling bovine tuberculosis.

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East and Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Animal Welfare Intergroup, said:

“The badger cull is a spectacularly expensive, ineffective and inhumane policy justified with a poor understanding of science. Over the past four years, the Government has spent £40 million of taxpayers’ money killing 15,000 badgers in England. The so-called ‘free shooting’ method employed sees badgers subjected to slow and excruciating deaths. The practice is considered cruel and ineffective by the Government’s own experts and the British Veterinary Association.”

“Despite the expense and extensive cruelty, not to mention the systematic destruction of a protected species, the Government has provided no evidence to prove that killing badgers is having any impact on lowering bovine TB around badger cull zones. Ministers also refuse to accept a growing mountain of scientific research, which indicates that badgers largely avoid interaction with cattle and reveals just how difficult it is for badgers to transmit bovine TB to a cow.”

“The scientific evidence and economic analysis tell us that the cull is an irrational and failed project. In fact, the latest government-funded report concluded that the UK’s bovine TB ‘control’ programme is nothing more than mass cruelty supported by a bad reading of the science.”

“Rather than condemning thousands more badgers to long, painful and unnecessary deaths, the government needs to re-focus its efforts on humane and evidence-based controls.”

“I’m calling on MPs and the Government to make the compassionate, scientifically sound and economically literate choice and put an end to the cull once and for all.”

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The Rt Hon Baroness Anelay of St Johns, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for the UN and the Commonwealth and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, will travel to New York this week, during the final days of the UK’s Security Council presidency.

The Minister will use her two-day visit to signal UK support for more women mediators within the UN system. She will outline the UK’s next steps on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) and discuss UN peacekeeping performance and reform.

On Monday, the Minister will meet with a range of senior representatives within the UN system. She will co-host events focused on increasing the number of women mediators within the UN and tackling sexual exploitation and abuse within peacekeeping missions. She will also meet with NGOs to discuss modern slavery.

On Tuesday, she will host an event to mark five years of the UK-led Initiative to end sexual violence in conflict , at which she will promote draft Principles for Global Action aimed at tackling the stigma attached to sexual violence in conflict. She will meet the new US Permanent Representative, Nikki Haley, participate in a number of meetings on sustainable peace, and will host Permanent Representatives from other Commonwealth countries, ahead of the UK-hosted Commonwealth Summit in April 2018.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Baroness Anelay said:

This visit to New York will allow us to make real progress on a range of UK priority issues at the UN.

As the UN increases its focus on gender and conflict prevention, I will be pushing for an increase in the number of women mediators in the UN system. Involving women in peace processes increases the chances for reconciliation and leads to stronger, more sustainable peace.

I will mark the five-year anniversary of the UK-led initiative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative during my visit. We must continue to build on progress to better support victims, and address stigma.

I also welcome the opportunity to discuss next steps in tackling sexual exploitation and abuse, to restore trust between peacekeepers and those they serve. I welcome the new UN Secretary General’s leadership on this issue.

Further information

Analysis of English votes for English laws in relation to government amendments made at report stage to the Bus Services Bill.