Flooding

Debate between Alison McGovern and Owen Paterson

Monday 6th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

Obviously, we had Department for Transport Ministers at every Cobra meeting. It is safe to say that, generally, the strategic road network worked extremely well, but my hon. Friend mentions high-profile routes that are exposed to winds, and my colleagues in the DFT will be examining that as part of the review.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

My sympathies are with all those who have lost loved ones during this period, and I am sure the Secretary of State has said the same. May I tell him that Wirral organisations worked incredibly hard to keep going and to get back to normal during the adverse weather conditions? Unfortunately, their efforts, which should have been supported by the council, have been hampered somewhat by the extremity of the cuts that Wirral council faces at this time. He says that tomorrow the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis) will be chairing a meeting of a ministerial recovery working group. Will that discuss how to assist the councils that have dealt with the biggest cuts this Government have doled out?

Bovine TB and Badger Control

Debate between Alison McGovern and Owen Paterson

Tuesday 23rd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

I thank my right hon. Friend. Similarly, in my patch in Shropshire—I was there only 10 days ago with my hon. Friends the Members for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) and for Ludlow (Mr Dunne)—a trial of injecting badgers is being conducted. Those trials are interesting; we will look with interest at the results, and I commend them. However, is it seriously a practical proposition to inject each of the nation’s 250,000 to 300,000 badgers every year, knowing that we cannot mend a diseased badger? Once a badger has the disease, we cannot get rid of that by injecting it. These are interesting trials; they may have some merit and I am not dismissive of them, but they are not a long-term answer.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

May I pay tribute to Dr Brian May? He took a great deal of time to brief Members of this House and I thank him for that. Will the Secretary of State comment on what contribution he thinks standards of animal husbandry might make when dealing with this problem, and say what assistance Members of this House can give to farmers in that regard?

[Mr Paterson]

I think I touched on that in my response to an earlier question. There is no doubt that if we can separate wildlife that have this extraordinary debilitating disease—I mentioned 300,000 colony forming units in 1 ml of badger urine—and if we can keep them out of cattle sheds, that obviously helps. However, we have a grass-based system, and for many months in the year, our cattle are out on grass. It is not realistic to live in the countryside and expect to separate cattle from badgers that are going out and hunting for worms. Badgers’ main food is worms, and they go on the ground where cattle are feeding. The hon. Lady is right to say that measures can be taken on farm buildings and it is a nice idea, but that is for the birds when cattle are spending a long time out in the fields, which is where they pick up the disease.