NEW WALES
12 December 2013
Wrexham MP Ian Lucas has maintained his opposition to the culling of badgers following a debate in the Houses of Parliament on the issue.
During the impassioned debate in Westminster Hall today, MPs were told that the cull, which ended earlier this year, had been described as a “fiasco.”
Mr Lucas, who attended the debate, said he also had concerns about the impact of English culling upon Wales, where the Welsh Government is not culling badgers.
He said: “The Government’s cull has not worked – yet it has been expensive in policing costs and it may actually have caused further problems by making infected badgers move out from the culling area. As an MP with a constituency bordering England, the impact that culling has on badger movements naturally concerns me.
“MP after MP today spoke of the importance of scientific argument in this debate – but the Government’s actions do not seem to have been led by science, but by dogma.”
Mr Lucas and fellow North Wales MPs Chris Ruane and David Hanson also met with Queen guitarist Brian May at a meeting in Parliament yesterday to discuss the cull.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Lucas said: “Brian May – like thousands of peopleacross the country and hundreds of my constituents – is very much opposed to the cull. I share that opposition.”
And David Hanson MP added: “”I welcomed the chance to hear arguments for an end to the cull. I shall not be supporting further culls in England and hope that even at this stage vaccination can be looked at “