Keir Starmer’s government caught at the centre of another corruption scandal

The UK government has once again been caught manipulating science to justify the mass killing of badgers – this time, under the Labour Party. Another review of the badger cull is, according to one group, little more than a device to ‘maintain the status quo’.

The badger cull: another corrupt review

A secretive DEFRA review on bovine TB (bTB) control is being run by the very same people who have spent years defending badger culling, undermining any chance of an independent assessment. In response to the scandalous revelation, Protect the Wild has launched a petition demanding the removal of conflicted panel members.

The review, launched in January under minister Daniel Zeichner, is supposed to examine the latest evidence on bTB policy. But instead of selecting neutral experts, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has stacked the panel with long-time pro-cull academics, including Professor Charles Godfray of Oxford University—a figure who previously helped justify badger culling in 2018.

In response to this scandal, wildlife campaign group Protect the Wild has launched a petition demanding that Professor Godfray and other conflicted panel members step down immediately, and that DEFRA appoint a genuinely independent review panel.

Maintaining the status quo

For years, the UK government has ignored independent research showing that badger culling has failed to control bTB in cattle. Instead, DEFRA has relied on advice from the very academics and industry insiders who helped create and defend this disastrous policy in the first place.

• Professor Charles Godfray was part of the 2018 bTB review, which led to the continuation of badger culling under Michael Gove. His return to this panel raises serious conflicts of interest.
• Oxford statistician Bernard Silverman—another panelist—will be reviewing his own university’s work, a blatant breach of scientific independence.
• The BTB Partnership, which oversees the review, is stacked with livestock industry figures and pro-cull advocates, making impartial decision-making impossible.

This latest panel isn’t about reviewing the science—it’s about protecting the same failed policies that have led to over 230,000 badgers being slaughtered in England since 2013.

Labour’s broken promises

Despite promising to follow the science, Labour has allowed badger culling to continue in so-called Low Risk Areas, bowing to pressure from the same DEFRA officials who expanded the cull under the Conservatives.

Rob Pownall, Founder of Protect the Wild, said:

This is yet another rigged review designed to rubber-stamp the killing of badgers. DEFRA is once again allowing a group of pro-cull insiders to dominate the debate, ensuring that independent voices are silenced. We demand that Charles Godfray step down immediately, and that the entire panel is replaced with truly impartial experts. The public will not accept another sham review.

Public pressure can force change on the badger cull

Wildlife campaign group Protect the Wild has launched a petition calling for the removal of Professor Charles Godfray from DEFRA’s bTB review panel, alongside demands for a truly independent assessment of bTB policy. The group is urging the public to take action by:

• Signing the petition to remove conflicted panel members and replace them with impartial experts.
• Writing to Minister Daniel Zeichner to demand accountability and transparency in the review process.
• Sharing this story to expose the biased panel and increase pressure on DEFRA to rethink its approach.

Earlier this year, public pressure forced the government to scrap Rishi Sunak’s flawed consultation on badger culling. Protect the Wild believes the same pressure can stop this sham review before it rubber-stamps another failed policy.

Featured image via the Canary