Tony Blair plays down public response to badger killing
29/03/06

The Prime Minister has acknowledged receipt of an 11,315 signature e-petition which opposes badger killing as a means to control bovine TB in cattle [1]. By any standards, the e-petition is substantial. Over the last four years, it has been exceeded only by e-petitions on pub licensing, assisted dying and no to war in Iraq.

But the Badger Trust today criticised the Prime Minister for playing down the number of responses to the formal consultation on killing badgers that have been received by Defra. The Prime Minister's response to the e-petition says that the consultation "received over 10,000 responses". This is true, but the consultation actually received at least 35,000 responses, dwarfing the 7,000 responses received on the consultation over hunting with dogs.

Trevor Lawson, spokesman for the Badger Trust, said: "A vast number of people made the effort to respond to Defra's consultation [2], even though the information in the consultation ignored scientific evidence and made false claims. The very least the Prime Minister could do is acknowledge the full extent of public concern by more accurately stating the number of responses."

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