NDM9288 - Opposition Debate
Tabled on 08/07/2026 | For debate on 15/07/2026To propose that the Senedd:
1. Notes the continued financial, emotional, and animal welfare impact of bovine TB on Welsh farming families and rural communities.
2. Recognises that bovine TB is a complex disease with multiple routes of transmission, including cattle-to-cattle transmission and infection from wildlife.
3. Regrets that the current approach has failed to command the confidence of many farmers and has not delivered the progress needed towards eradication.
4. Calls on the Welsh Government to:
a) maintain robust biosecurity standards;
b) draw on the advice of the TB Technical Advisory Group in developing a new approach to managing bovine TB;
c) recognise wildlife as a source of infection;
d) enable scientifically validated control methods; and
e) ensure that, in the event that the TB Technical Advisory Group recommends targeted wildlife control, including culling, such recommendations are given full and proper consideration and, where supported by the evidence, form part of the Welsh Government’s approach to bovine TB eradication.
Supporters
Amendments
Delete all after point 1 and replace with:
2. Recognises:
a) the partnership approach taken by the previous Welsh Labour Government working with farmers and vets;
b) that herd prevalence is currently at its lowest value since January 2017; and
c) that almost 95 per cent of herds in Wales are now currently free from bovine TB.
3. Notes that evidence and recommendations made by the TB Technical Advisory Group should be given full and proper consideration.
4. Recognises the important role of vaccination in bovine TB eradication.
5. Calls on the Welsh Government to maintain a ban on the mass culling of badgers.
