Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they continue to view badger culls as being “for the purposes of preventing the spread of disease” within the meaning of section 10(2) of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, given the acknowledgment in the Labour Party Manifesto 2024 that they are “ineffective”; and if they do not, whether existing cull licences will be revoked under section 10(8) of the 1992 Act or, if they will not be revoked, why not.

Licences for badger culling are issued by Natural England under section 10(2)(a) of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. The current round of licences, that is, licences that have already been issued, will be honoured. This gives us time to work closely and constructively with farmers and scientists to build an eradication package that will beat bovine TB.