The Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, today accused the Government of deliberately restricting the remit of the expert panel on the effectiveness of badger culls, as an excuse for longer culls in future.

In a response to an oral question from Lucas in Parliament today, the Minister George Eustice confirmed that the remit of the Independent Expert Panel on the badger culling pilots will be restricted to the first six weeks of the cull, even though the cull period was extended to nine weeks in Somerset, and 11 weeks and two days in Gloucestershire.     

Caroline Lucas said:

“The Government knows that its inhumane policy has no basis in scientific evidence, but is determined to carry on regardless.   

“Curtailing independent scrutiny of the cull is an underhand move to push for longer culls.

“It is deliberately restricting the remit of the expert panel as a get-out to justify the failure of the culls.  If the panel concludes that culling was not effective, DEFRA can argue that longer culls are necessary in future. 

“It is incredibly disingenous of the Government to seek a get-out to justify pressing ahead with a policy that has been a spectacular failure.”