Both sides claim victory after two-year badger cull battle

A Government agency and pro-badger groups have both claimed victory following the end of a long-running legal battle over the licensing of bTB-related culling activities in England.

Campaigners’ legal representatives claim to have secured “important concessions” by challenging the decision to allow further culls to take place two years ago.

But the body responsible for granting the licences said “no unlawfulness” had been found in its decision-making processes.

The conflicting claims follow publication of a High Court ruling in a case brought by Wild Justice and the Badger Trust, who had challenged Natural England’s (NE) decision to approve 26 supplementary cull licences in May 2024.

‘Hypothetical question’

They initially alleged the decision had been “improperly influenced by irrelevant considerations”, including likely impacts on the farming industry and NE’s relations with both producers and Defra, plus potential compensation liabilities.

Although the claim was denied by NE and appears to have been dropped subsequently, lawyers for the two groups latterly sought a formal ruling that reliance on those matters in any decision to license culling activity would have been unlawful.

That request was rejected in a ruling, published on 26 June, in which the judge, Mr Justice Johnson, said he could not accept the court needed to deal with a “hypothetical question”.

‘Legal irrelevances’

However, the judgement also revealed NE’s legal team had conceded four of the five alleged considerations “would have constituted legal irrelevances” if they had been relied upon in the decision to grant the licences.

Although they maintained that would not necessarily have invalidated any decision, Badger Trust chair Rosie Wood said they had contributed to “a great outcome for badgers and transparency”.

Carol Day, senior environmental solicitor for the groups’ legal firm, Leigh Day, added:

“This judgment reflects important concessions made by NE and DEFRA that factors such as appeasing farmers, DEFRA and protecting NE’s budget should not be taken into account when considering the culling of badgers.”

Broadly welcomed

But an NE statement described the judicial review application as having been “dismissed” and said the court had found “no unlawfulness in Natural England’s decision-making”.

It added: “Natural England welcomes the clarity provided by the Court.”

The ruling follows the recent publication of Defra’s new strategy for tackling bTB, which includes the aim to deploy a new cattle vaccine by 2030.

Although the proposals have been broadly welcomed, anti-cull organisations have warned they could still allow a future return to culling amid enduring support for the practices from farmers’ leaders.