Labour’s pledge to halt badger culling by 2029 can succeed, but only if the government adopts a Covid-style focus on testing and vaccination, according to a new report.
The review, led by Sir Charles Godfray, warned that current investment in controlling bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is too low, giving ministers only a “small chance” of meeting the target to eradicate the disease in England by 2038. bTB costs taxpayers and the cattle industry around £150m a year, and more than 210,000 badgers have been killed since the cull began in 2013.
Godfray said evidence showed badgers do transmit bTB to cattle, but stressed this did not make culling the only option. He urged ministers to expand non-lethal controls, including vaccination programmes for both cattle and badgers, microchipping to track movements, and greater use of accurate blood tests.
He compared the effort required to the urgency of the Covid-19 response: “We saw during the pandemic how things can move much faster with real focus. We want to see the same for this disease.”
The farming minister, Daniel Zeichner, welcomed the findings but stopped short of confirming whether the badger cull would end this parliament. He highlighted record levels of badger vaccination in 2024 and a new cattle vaccine under development, with over £40m invested so far. A new strategy on eradicating bTB is due in early 2025.
