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Laurence Robertson
Main Page: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)Department Debates - View all Laurence Robertson's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(10 years, 7 months ago)
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Mr Paterson
I was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, so the hon. Gentleman knows that I respect the protocols of devolution. We have regular discussions at ministerial and official level on matters agricultural. He is absolutely right, however, to raise the contrast between what has happened in Northern Ireland, where diseased badgers have not been removed, and the dramatic reduction in southern Ireland.
Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend update the House on the development of vaccines for badgers and, indeed, cattle?
Mr Paterson
I raised the issue with Commissioner Borg on my first day back, a week last Monday. We are pressing on with the development of a cattle vaccine but, sadly, it will take some years: we have to develop a vaccine that is valid and works; we have to develop a DIVA test to differentiate between vaccinated cattle and diseased cattle; and we then have to get a legal process. I am afraid that that is going to take at least 10 years.