Bovine TB and Badger Control Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Chris Williamson
Main Page: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)Department Debates - View all Chris Williamson's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Paterson
That is an interesting question. Yes, I will look at that in detail. At the moment, the NFU is probably thinking of carrying on in the two areas where it has put in such a lot of work and preparation, but I am open to looking at other areas. We want to pull off two pilots that show that this system, in a bigger area and with a more efficient system of culling, does work and does reduce TB.
Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)
Ministers constantly lecture us about the need for their counter-productive austerity measures, so how can the Secretary of State justify earmarking £250,000 for post-mortems on dead badgers following the cull? Is that not a colossal waste of money and an example of an omnivore-shambles?
Mr Paterson
What a ludicrous question. The attitude of some Opposition Members is absolutely tearful. We are heading towards a bill of £1 billion.