Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker
We have heard many sound arguments today for the cull to go ahead ... and it must.
I shall not speak for long, as so much of what I want to say has already been said.
I am pleased to tell Honourable Members that the Defra Select Committee, on which I sit, has agreed to take evidence on vaccination and bovine TB.
We know that at the moment there is no vaccine available to tackle bovine TB, although work on it continues.
In the meantime, a cull is the only pragmatic way forward and any more delay is unacceptable to our dairy farmers, their families and of course our economy.
The unpalatable truth is that even without bovine TB, badgers should be culled to control their numbers.
Why do we cull deer, for example?
It’s simply to maintain their health and to ensure that on a crowded island we are not swamped by hundreds of thousands of these animals to the point they are simply unmanageable.
Introduce disease – such as bovine TB – into this managerial fact and the need to cull is more urgent.
It is important to note that this cull is a PILOT.
The results will be studied in depth and I am confident they will show that a cull does combat bovine TB.
I would like to take this opportunity to condemn those who have threatened and bullied farmers in the two cull areas.
This is in most cases is done anonymously, as you’d expect from these type of thugs – because that’s all they are.
I am confident that the police will take whatever action is necessary to arrest and convict those who resort to these cowardly forms of attack.
Of course, people should be able to speak their minds, but they must do so lawfully and peacefully.
I end by referring to the excellent speech made by my Honourable Friend, the Member for Thirsk & Malton.
She called for a ‘one nation’ approach to this horrible and devastating disease, appealing to politicians to both sides of this House to do what is right for our farmers and not for political expediency.
I hope her statesmanlike words are noted and acted upon.
For it is indeed for our farmers that I am here and I very much hope that the Secretary of State will do exactly what he has said he will do ... postpone the cull until next summer.
Farmers have waited too long already and we must not turn our backs on them now.