Further badger culling promised

BADGER CULLING has been given the go-ahead in 11 new areas of England as part of efforts to tackle tuberculosis in cattle.

Licences for badger culling across parts of Devon, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset and Cheshire were announced, as the Government said it was also restarting a badger vaccination programme to stop spread of the disease to new areas.

In addition, licences for more culling have been granted for areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset which have completed fouryear pilot culls introduced to stop spread of TB from badgers to cattle.

A new advisory service for farmers – which will provide advice on farms, by phone and email, to livestock owners in areas at high risk or on the edge of the areas suffering the disease – is being launched in the autumn.

The Government has committed to rolling out culling to more areas, saying it is necessary to curb TB in cattle as badgers can transmit the disease to livestock, but opponents say it is inhumane and ineffective.

Steve Trotter, director at The Wildlife Trusts, said: “We work closely with many farmers, day in, day out, and we recognise the pain and hardship of those whose cattle herds have been devastated by bTB, but killing badgers will not solve the problem.

“Badgers are not the primary cause of the spread of bTB in cattle: the primary route of infection is cattle-to-cattle contact.

“The Government’s badger cull is flying in the face of science. It should be putting more resources into speeding up the development of an effective cattle vaccine, amongst other measures.” NICOLA STURGEON has called for a new cross-party consensus on boosting the powers of Holyrood in the face of Brexit “threatening the underpinning principle” of devolution.

Scotland’s First Minister said differences should be set aside to safeguard and enhance the devolution settlement 20 years on from the 1997 vote that established the Scottish Parliament.

Marking the anniversary with a speech in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon warned the UK Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill sought to “erode the settlement the people of Scotland voted for” in 1997.

She said: “Even though there is still disagreement – passionate disagreement – about the final destination of our constitutional journey, we should nevertheless seek a new spirit of consensus to match that achieved in 1997. With Brexit now threatening the underpinning principle of devolution and many of our vital national interests, it is essential that we do so.”

The Scottish Government is to publish a series of papers making the case for extending Holyrood’s powers in areas such as employment, immigration and trade.

“The more powers our Parliament has, the more we can, collectively, do for Scotland,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“I want to talk about how we can build a new consensus in 2017 to match the spirit of 1997.”

The Scottish Conservatives said Ms Sturgeon could not expect consensus with others without ruling out a second independence referendum.

Tory MP Paul Masterton said: “This is shameless scaremongering from Nicola Sturgeon, who seems to be up to her old constitutional tricks again.

“People in Scotland are sick to death of the First Minister using Brexit to manufacture more grievance.

“She cannot preach to others about consensus while she refuses to take the threat of another referendum off the table.”