Disagreement over Welsh TB eradication progress

Mrs Griffiths called for a continued collaborative approach to tackling the disease, but NFU Cymru said for this to happen the Welsh government would need to work with farmers to address the disease in cattle and wildlife.

Collaboration

Mr Jones said Wales needed to look to look over the border to England’s collaborative approach.

“Defra has worked closely with the industry as part of the strategy in England, giving the NFU and farmers the confidence to prepare and submit licence applications. Preliminary figures suggest this is leading to a reduction of the disease in a number of those cull areas. We again urge the Minister to look at the effectiveness of the model adopted in England.”

NFU Cymru also expressed concerns about a proposed review of the current TB compensation regime, with Mrs Griffiths describing the current £14m spend as ‘unsustainable’.

Mr Jones said: “This is particularly galling, when it is the Welsh Government’s failure to implement a holistic policy that effectively eradicates the disease in the first place that is making such compensation necessary. The best way to lower that spend would be to introduce measures that tackle the disease across all vectors.”