Environment Secretary Owen Paterson told an audience of more than 200 at the start of the Royal Cornwall Show that the campaign to target badgers as part of the drive to stamp out TB would be rolled out to ten other areas in 2014, depending on the findings of the current six-week cull in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire.
He stressed that the culls had not yet begun, but insisted that while the Government was quite prepared to tolerate protests over the controversial shooting of 70% of badgers in the cull areas, he would not "tolerate illegal obstruction" of work being carried out on the instructions of a legally elected Government.
A total of 3,257 beef and dairy cattle had been destroyed in Cornwall last year, having tested positive to TB tests, he said. "Please get organised for a Cornwall pilot next year. I hope to come back here next year and announce you have arrived at hard boundaries for your cull for one of the ten pilot areas. There are no sensible alternatives at the moment," he insisted. "We don't at this stage have a powerful enough vaccine to do the job."
While in opposition, Mr Paterson tabled 600 parliamentary questions about bovine TB. He told the show's opening breakfast, in the Country Land & Business Association marquee, that he was not against badgers – indeed he had had two pet badgers in the past. "But we want to use every tool we have to combat this appalling disease, which caused the deaths of 28,000 cattle nationally last year," he stressed.
Before the current epidemic and the protection of badgers, bovine TB had been reduced to just 0.01% – and there were still a lot of healthy badgers. What had been allowed to happen under the last Labour Government had been a disgrace, he said.
"If we go on as we are we shan't have a cattle industry," he warned. "Once we have the disease under control there will be a place for a badger vaccine.
"In Ireland, they have reduced instances of the disease through culls – and if you're worried about wildlife it's worth noting the average Irish badger is larger than ours, because they are healthier and have a smaller population."
Answering questions, Mr Paterson said that Wednesday's vote in the House of Commons on an opposition motion to end the cull had seen a "change of dynamics", with the Government recording a "thumpingly large" majority for the culls to go ahead.
"We just don't need rows," he insisted. "What we need is to get rid of this disgusting TB bacteria, which could kill everyone in this marquee."
The Government planned to remain within Section 10 of the Badger Act, which allowed the culls, he said. But he stressed the farming community would have to continue to accept cattle-movement controls. They were imposed in every other country where bovine TB had been successfully combated and they were "politically necessary".
He added: "We must not let this get focused on 'greedy farmers wanting to kill badgers' but rather see it as part of our thinking, like it is in France. When they have a TB breakdown they go in at once and clear it out."
He promised the Government would produce a new TB strategy later this year, and he counselled his audience to point out to anyone who appeared to be against the culls that on the counters of every supermarket could be found imported produce from countries where wildlife was culled to prevent bovine TB.
