Badger cull finally ends – George welcomes news

Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP for West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, welcomed the announcement of the final ending of badger culling in a statement today by DEFRA Minister, Dame Angela Eagle MP: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-10/hcws103 . 

Andrew George instigated, with Professor Rosie Woodroffe the Zoological Society of London, the first community-led badger vaccination project in the country in 2014, when he argued that culling could play no useful purpose in combatting Bovine TB in cattle. He felt that cattle farmers have been let down by people who Andrew felt were exterminating badgers to distract attention from a properly science and evidence based approach. 

Andrew said “Now, over a decade later, we’re back to where we were. I welcome today’s announcement, and congratulate the Steering Group of the Bovine TB Partnership for their work in coming forward with alternative recommendations which are fundamentally based on the biosecurity of cattle alongside wildlife measures. 

“I remember when we undertook an Inquiry when I served on the Agriculture Select Committee in 1997, when we were told that the DIVA test (ie. to distinguish between infected and vaccinated animals) was about 10 years away. Now, almost 30 years on, we are told it should be available by 2030! 

“I will work with Government Ministers and farmers to monitor progress, and will support this evidence based approach.”