By Sarah Robinson

Last updated at 11:54, Thursday, 01 November 2012

COPELAND’S MP Jamie Reed has hit out at the government’s proposed badger cull calling it “pointless” and “scientifically disproven”.

Mr Reed has expressed his concern about the proposals which could see thousands of badgers being killed in a bid to prevent the spread of bovine TB.

The government has announced it will delay the planned badger cull in England until next summer.

In a parliamentary session last week, Mr Reed backed widespread protests against the cull and said Copeland has seen the “devastating consequences of the foot and mouth disease”.

He says figures show that even if a cull takes place, the disease is still expected to be prevalent and while the issues of bovine TB need to be tackled, a cull is not the answer.

Mr Reed praised the work of protestors who have included rock star and animal rights campaigner Brian May.

He said: “I wish to pay tribute to all the organisations that have argued against what is clearly a scientifically flawed set of proposals used to support a cull. I also pay tribute to those figures with a high public profile who have used that to forward the aims of this cause.”

He said the government has tried to blame the proposals on the National Farmers Union, however, he says there is more than one view point within the organisation on how to tackle the spread of bovine TB.

He said: “Farmers want solutions to bovine TB, as we all do. My constituency will never forget the devastating consequences of foot and mouth disease. It was not just an animal welfare disaster and an economic catastrophe; it was a very real human tragedy, as lives were ruined and generations of work were destroyed.

“Nothing like that must ever be allowed to happen again, so on the issue of bovine TB, farmers are well within their rights to look at the government and wonder why they have been led down the garden path and sold a false prospectus. There can be no doubt that they have been, and they are sick to death of the goalposts for ever moving as the government continue to drop the ball.”

Mr Reed said farmers have received anonymous threats about what will happen to them and their property if a cull takes place.

“That is a despicable state of affairs, and I hope that the Minister, the Secretary of State and the Government in general will join me in urging that the full weight of the law be brought against the people who have made those threats,” he said.

Mr Reed added: “For the sake of bovine welfare, for the sake of badger conservation, for the sake of rural businesses and the rural economy, which, in so many ways, relies upon dairy farming, and for the sake of everyone in this House, on either side, who cares about rural England, the Government should urgently begin bringing forward sensible proposals to tackle bovine TB, not pointless, scientifically disproven, dog-whistle policies.”

First published at 11:53, Thursday, 01 November 2012
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk