Tom Collins

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for introducing the debate so well and for mentioning biosecurity. Badger culling is a very important topic, not least to the campaigners in Worcester who have met with me, to whom I am grateful for their time, and to the 183 people in Worcester who signed the petition. It is also very important to our local farmers. I take a moment to pay tribute to our well-loved Bennetts, who create excellent ice cream, which I encourage anybody to come to Worcester and test. They have also been very accommodating and generous with their time in educating me about the challenges they face. I shall focus on one aspect of the problem: testing. As an engineer, I have been quite shocked by the situation, because it seems like we are trying to navigate a Catch-22. The testing that is available, relatively rapidly and at relatively low cost, is too sensitive, and that means that we are faced with a false choice. We cannot distinguish an animal that is immunised from one that has an active infection. That leaves farmers with an impossible choice: either to immunise to try to prevent infection—but then to find themselves unable to detect early, respond to and manage an infection—or to rely on testing alone and wait for the inevitable outcome. With no preventive measures in place, they know an infection and an outbreak will come, and they will be left trying to manage it and the associated losses. Is the Minister aware of any work being carried out to develop a low-cost blood sampling rapid lateral flow antibody test for bovine TB? It strikes me that if a less-sensitive, low-cost and rapid test could be deployed at scale and regularly by farmers, it could be a game changer, as other Members have said. This seems like a relatively simple and technologically available solution, even though it may take some research and development. Post covid, the landscape around our ability to develop vaccines and low-cost tests has changed. Similarly, our Government have said that we will embrace agility and partnership, and will work with others to innovate and find new solutions to problems. I would appreciate the Minister’s explaining the work that the Government have been doing in this area, or meeting me after the debate to discuss further. This is a vital step that will enable us to eliminate bovine TB and end the need for culling.