MP presses Farms Minister for more local control on Bovine TB

09.03.2010  West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, will meet Farms Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, in Westminster tomorrow (10th March 2010) to urge him to give farmers and wildlife specialists a greater say in the management of actions to control Bovine TB.

Mr George will be joined by local farmers at the meeting which will take place in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs near the House of Commons tomorrow, shortly after Prime Ministers Questions.

Farmers will quiz the Minister on details of the Government’s proposed roll-out of a badger vaccine whilst Mr George will press the case for a greater local say of management of efforts to control the problem of Bovine TB outbreaks – something which is having a severe and detrimental impact on livestock farmers across Cornwall.

“Farmers are unimpressed and many angry about the way the Government has handled this crisis," Mr George said. "I first proposed to the Government six years ago that they should end the ‘Whitehall knows best’ mantra which underlies their policy and give local areas the chance to manage and control the problem of TB outbreaks in their own area. This shouldn’t just be a carte blanche for farmers to do what they like, but for them to work in partnership with vets, wildlife experts and DEFRA officials to both map, track and then bear down on the disease in each of the hotspot areas”.