16 Sept 2025
Farmers’ leaders have warned of ‘gaping holes’ in disease policy following the publication of a new government-appointed review.
Allister Webb
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Image © Martin Mecnarowski / Adobe Stock
A prominent farm vets group has welcomed the findings of a fresh review into bTB policy in England despite other clinicians demanding a public inquiry on the issue.
The BCVA said it was broadly in support of the proposals outlined in the recent report, which criticised the “polarisation” of debate on the role of badger culling.
However, farmers’ leaders warned policy had been “floundering over the past two years”, while welfare groups claimed the review had not gone far enough.
Although the Government is committed to ending the current cull programme during this parliament, the new review led by Professor Sir Charles Godfray said badgers can both transmit bTB to cattle and are a factor in it persisting.
But it also acknowledged the need for non-lethal badger interventions in line with that policy, while urging stakeholders to move away from their established positions on the subject.
A BCVA statement said the review’s findings would be fed into the TB Partnership’s refreshed strategy, which it hopes to present to ministers early in the new year.
The statement concluded: “BCVA has representation on the steering group and we are broadly in support of these updates intended to lead us toward TB eradication.”
But while he backed the review’s call for greater urgency and investment, NFU president Tom Bradshaw warned there was “no clear strategy” to meet the current 2038 eradication target.
Although he pledged the organisation would continue to seek high biosecurity standards on farms, he argued there were “gaping holes” in current policy because of the plan to end culling and the expectation that cattle vaccines and more effective tests will not be available for at least five years.
He added: “All the hard work which has seen us achieve the lowest rate of new herd infections in more than 20 years in England will be for nothing if the Government doesn’t step up and ensure we have the tools needed to continue to fight this devastating disease.”
However, independent consultant biologist Tom Langton, a long-standing critic of Defra’s approach to the disease, estimated the current trend for eradication was closer to 2080 than 2038.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Veterinary Association, which opposes culling, called for an immediate halt to the programme and described it as “archaic”.
The group said it agreed with the review’s conclusion that there was only a small chance of meeting the 2038 target for eradicating bTB.
But it argued: “Without a transparent, open-minded and genuinely independent public inquiry into bTB policy, which considers all emerging scientific evidence as well as novel approaches, there is no chance at all.”
In a joint statement, The Badger Trust and Born Free Foundation said the review had offered positive proposals, though they were “disappointed by its lack of ambition”.
Meanwhile, RSPCA assistant director of policy Gemma Hope said the report had not gone far enough, adding: “We urge the Government to develop bTB eradication measures with animal welfare at their heart.”
Defra has said it plans to publish its new strategy to meet the 2038 target early next year.
