The recommendations, from an independent steering group convened by Defra in 2024, propose a new focus on preventing cattle-to-cattle transmission. This is a welcome shift and responds to the extensive evidence showing that cattle-to-cattle transmission is the main driver of the disease, not wild badger movements. 

Defra have welcomed the independent steering group’s report and will apply it to policy, with rigorous herd testing strong biosecurity measures and future cattle vaccination now taking centre stage as tools for tackling the disease.

The badger cull is now over. All but one license for culling have ended and the Government has committed to no new licenses being issued. The one remaining license in place (Cumbria) expires in 2029, but no new culling has been authorised under it, nor is expected to be.

The Wildlife Trusts welcome the new Government position, whilst stressing that:

• Farmers should be fully supported to tackle cattle-to-cattle transmission, including through more funding and advice.
• There should never be a return to culling. Arguments that wildlife movements make a significant contribution to the disease should be closely scrutinised, as it was this mistaken approach that led to the ecologically disastrous badger cull.
• Badger populations in some parts of England are now in a perilous state and should be supported to recover.