Bovine Tuberculosis control and badger culling
Petitions debate
The petition
In April 2025, Robert Pownall created a petition asking the Government to 'End the Badger cull and adopt other approaches to bovine TB control'.
Over 100,000 people agreed with Robert and signed his petition.
Petitions debate
The Petitions Committee scheduled a debate on the petition in Westminster Hall
It was led by Irene Campbell MP on Monday 13 October 2025.
During the debate, Irene thanked the petition creator and others she met with ahead of the debate:
"I thank Robert Pownall, the creator of the petition, and his colleague Tom Langton at Protect the Wild, for meeting with me. I congratulate them on gathering more than 102,000 signatures.
"It is important for everyone that bovine tuberculosis is effectively tackled. Farmers and the Government are losing money, and cows and badgers are dying unnecessarily. New TB herd incidents have fallen by only 1% since the badger cull restarted in 2013, and innocent animals are continuing to die while nothing is improving.
"There should undoubtedly be more bovine testing, and we must consider options such as the development of the bovine vaccine and the increased roll-out of badger vaccination. In addition, there could be incentives for farmers to take part in such schemes, as well as to adopt enhanced biosecurity.
"In the light of the evidence, I ask the Government to review and cancel all existing cull licences, such as those that Natural England set earlier this year. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response as to how a Labour Government will tackle bovine TB and, as a Labour MP, I urge us to follow our manifesto commitment to end the badger cull."
Government response
The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, Dame Angela Eagle MP, responded to the debate on behalf of the Government.
She began by acknowledging the petition and the matters it raised:
"I begin by acknowledging the strength of feeling in this debate, including from 170 of my constituents in Wallasey and the 102,000-odd members of the public who signed the petition. For many, the idea of culling badgers—a protected species—is deeply upsetting and even unconscionable, and I understand and respect that view.
"As many have said, this is a totemic and polarising issue. The fact is that over successive years, hundreds of thousands of badgers have been culled indiscriminately across a vast area, stretching from Cornwall to Cheshire and across to the midlands. For valid reasons, many, including the Labour manifesto, have described the policy as ineffective.
The Minister highlighted the Government's commitment to ending the badger cull:
"I will be clear from the outset that this Government are committed to ending the badger cull. We stand by that commitment, and I say again that the badger cull is ending. We have already taken decisive steps to bring the cull to its closure."
She went on to outline several Government measures in relation to bovine tuberculosis (TB) and ending the badger cull, including:
- The ongoing development of a new bovine TB eradication strategy, co-designed with farmers, vets, scientists, conservationists, and the Government.
- An update to the Government's 2018 bovine TB strategy review, in a report published in September 2025.
- A badger population survey, which launched earlier in 2025.
- The introduction of a new national wildlife TB surveillance programme.
- Ongoing trials of a cattle BCG (Bacillus Calmette Guérin) vaccine, used alongside a DIVA (Detect Infected among Vaccinated Animals) skin test.*
- The introduction of a new badger-vaccination field force.
*The Animal and Plant Health Agency have subsequently provided an update on their field trials of the cattle vaccine and skin test (24 March 2026).
The Minister concluded her speech by stating:
"The Government will end the badger cull by the end of this Parliament. We will replace it—safely and credibly—with vaccination, strengthened surveillance, better biosecurity and, crucially, we hope, a cattle vaccine and a DIVA test that can build resilience into the herds. That is how we will reduce disease, costs and stress, protect a much-loved native species and restore hope to the farming families who have lived for too long under the shadow of bovine TB."
Robert's response
Following the debate on his petition, Robert said:
"This Government petition helped facilitate a real turning point in the campaign to end the Badger cull.
"It was brilliant to see MPs passionately put the facts on record that this senseless and needless slaughter of an iconic British species must end immediately."
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