I don’t disagree with Huw Irranca-Davies in that matter, but I would say to him that I don’t think these things are guaranteed at all because there is so much uncertainty in the situation that we are in.

I do need to bring my opening remarks to a conclusion so that other Members can have their say, but I think it is important also to put on record that the clear advice to the Welsh Government has always been that we dealt with TB in both the farm animal population and the wildlife population. While the Government had a credible vaccination policy it was able to persuade many people, I think, including the European Commission, and others throughout the United Kingdom, that there was an ability to deal with the wildlife problem through vaccinating badgers. I’m sure other Members in the debate will say whether that is an effective policy or not, but the fact was that it did fill a gap, because it showed that something was being done about the wildlife vector. The vaccine is no longer available. It hasn’t been used in Wales for at least a year. There are severe moral grounds for questioning whether we should be using a vaccine that is actually of greater use in Africa and countries that have TB in their young child population, where badgers actually need an increasing amount of vaccine in order for it to work in them. So, I think that we do need to see from the Welsh Government a new plan. If vaccine is not what is going to be used to deal with the wildlife vector, then the Government has to come forward with a coherent plan of how it is going to deal with TB in badgers, because that is what it boils down to.

This isn’t about direct transmission between badgers and cattle. They don’t go around snogging each other. It’s in the pasture. It’s in the way, sometimes, that farmers use their own practices. There’s more and more evidence coming out all the time, for example, about the use of slurry and other methods. But it is endemic, and it is really endemic in parts of Wales, and if we don’t have a credible plan for getting rid of it, then we will face trade difficulties, we will face animal health difficulties and we will face severe financial difficulties for many of our farmers.

I haven’t mentioned a cull yet, so I’ll just say the cull that I want to stop. The cull I want to stop is the 117,771 cows that have been culled because of TB in the last 10 years. Let’s talk about culls when we have to, but let’s put it in the right context of which animals are deserving of our support. I want to see all animals treated correctly with welfare at the highest level, and I want to see this disease dealt with in both cows and badgers.