Anne Main secures badger cull debate

It has today been announced that Anne Main was successful in her attempts to bring the issue of badger culling back to the House of Commons on Thursday 13th March. The St Albans MP led a cross-party group of MPs in their attempt to have the matter brought back to the Chamber to be fully debated and considered in the House.

Anne said, “I am thrilled that we managed to successfully make our case to the Backbench Business Committee [BBBC] who have granted us the opportunity to bring the very important matter of badger culling and animal welfare back before the House.

“There has been a great strength of feeling about culling badgers. I have had hundreds of representations from constituents and last Saturday I participated in a badger march in St Albans, in which four hundred people turned out to protest against the culling measures.

“I have been pressing for greater clarity on this issue for some time. I was very pleased to receive so much cross-party support for this debate and for my two EDMs. I am asking the Government to pause, reflect and adapt its policy for tackling Bovine TB. Should the motion receive the support of the House I hope the Government will look at other strategies to tackle this problem.

“I have a great sympathy for farmers on this difficult issue and believe something has to be done to tackle Bovine TB. However this needs to be an effective policy and the pilot culls have failed on all of the Government’s own criteria, including humaneness. I cannot support an ineffective policy that condones the inhumane killing of a protected species and does not deliver on an effective way of tackling Bovine TB. Given the specific underperformance of the pilot badger culls I feel it is imperative the Government listens to the IEP findings and reflects on the concerns of thousands of people across the UK. In the meantime, I do not believe the Government should allow more licences to be granted until Members have considered, debated, and voted on the motion before the House.

“I want to assure charities and all those concerned with the welfare of badgers that when I return to the House, I shall be closely scrutinising the Government, and how they intend to tackle bovine TB, without the unnecessary and inhumane culling of badgers.”

DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT

I’m not currently an MP, as Parliament has been dissolved until after the General Election on 12th December 2019. This website will not be updated during the election campaign and is for reference of my work when I was a Member of Parliament.

To contact me during the campaign please visit 
www.stalbansconservatives.com or email me at
annemain@stalbansconservatives.com.

Constituency Map

View St Albans in a larger map

Rohingya Crisis Report

“A New Shape of Catastrophe”: Two years on from the 2017 Rohingya Crisis

Bangladesh APPG Report

Download the report by the Bangladesh All Party Parliamentary Group: ‘After Rana Plaza’: A report into the readymade garment industry in Bangladesh.

Click here