5 Feb 2026
The department said intervening on potential closure is outside its remit.
Chris Simpson
Job Title
Image: Alexey Fedorenko / Adobe Stock
Defra has said it will not intervene in the potential closure of the University of Cambridge’s vet school amid calls for the Government to do so.
Addressing counterpart Angela Eagle in the House of Commons, shadow Defra minister and vet Neil Hudson echoed comments he made in December in the wake of the news that the university’s council of the School of Biological Sciences had recommended it cease veterinary education.
He said: “The UK does not train enough vets domestically. Vets play a vital role, obviously, in animal health and welfare… but also in food safety, public health, and disease control.
“That is why I am deeply concerned about the possible closure of Cambridge vet school recommended by the Council of the University School of Biological Sciences.
“We cannot maintain animal welfare or food security without adequate veterinary capacity and I urge the Government to act and press Cambridge university to stop this short-sighted possible closure.”
He added he was urging ministers to “have meaningful discussions behind the scenes at the highest levels” with the university.
But Defra has said that while it continues to engage directly with the vet school about its work, any decisions regarding its future are a matter for the university and outside of the department’s remit.
The RCVS has also been urged to act regarding the uncertainty over the future of veterinary education at Cambridge, but president Tim Parkin issued a similar response, noting: “This is not our decision, so I think it’s very difficult for us to intervene.”
A decision was expected in January but was postponed and is now expected around mid-February.
Mr Hudson was among more than 350 people who attended a video conference in January with the university’s deputy vice-chancellor, Madeleine Atkins, in which members read out statements in support of the vet school.
Mark Holmes, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), gave a statement in which he described the timing of the announcement as “disgraceful”.
Although Cambridge has indicated the DVM and its research would continue in the event the recommendation to close the vet school and Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital is supported, Prof Holmes argued: “The recommendation to close the course, the only one we run, is effectively a recommendation to close the department. We cannot undertake clinical veterinary research without a hospital.”
