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Benn admits public opinion swayed badger decision

FARMERS GUARDIAN
29 September 2010 | By Alistair Driver

HILARY Benn was heavily influenced by public opinion when he made his decision not to permit a badger cull in England, the former Defra Secretary has admitted.

Mr Benn was again forced to defend the decision at an NFU fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference. In what was probably his final public appearance in front of farmers as Shadow Defra Secretary, he was reminded once more that his three years in office was defined in the eyes of many farmers by his refusal to sanction a badger cull.

Mr Benn was not for turning, however, when asked by Lancashire NFU chairman Tom Rigby if he would now support the coalition Government’s plans to control bTB in wildlife.

“I am not going to stand up and say I have changed my mind because I haven’t,” Mr Benn said.

“I realise the decision I took in 2008 was deeply unpopular but it was not a perverse decision, it was taken after a year of careful consideration. I talked to everyone. I looked at what Independent Scientific Group had to say because they had tried culling.”

He said that ‘on the balance of probability’, while the advice said it might work, the risk of if it not working seemed greater. This conclusion, he admitted, was influenced both by ‘what the science said but also the impact of the fact that people feel strongly about the subject’. This public opposition, he feared, could have ‘reduced the effectiveness of culling’.

Mr Benn went on to attack the decision by Farming Minister Jim Paice to abandon five out of six badger vaccination demonstration projects, which were due to start this summer.

“I regret that very much as it seems to me very clear that in five, 10, 20 years time we will be talking about vaccination, not culling as the way to control bTB,” he said.

NFU president Peter Kendall criticised Mr Benn’s comments about public acceptability.

“We believe you were wrong about this,” Mr Kendall said. “You said the strength of public feeling made it harder for a badger cull to work but I don’t think you categorically said it wouldn’t work.”

“I am just glad the current Government has said we are going to be brave about this because killing

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