In the same week as Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb joined farmers to protest against the Secretary of State for rural affairs’ refusal to cull badgers as part of a TB control programme, AMs have been urged to overturn plans for a cull in Wales.

Stephen Crabb welcomed the Assembly's decision to undertake a pilot cull and said: “Hilary Benn had a chance to throw a lifeline to farmers whose livelihoods are in jeopardy, yet he opted for a total non-decision. To admit that a cull might work, and then push the already crippling burden of TB controls further onto the farming industry is completely unfair.”

Campaigning group Viva! has written to all AMs, asking them to call on the Welsh rural affairs minister to abandon plans for a pilot cull in Wales.

Campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell, says: “The trial cull in Wales has been touted as a ‘quick fix’, but the Welsh chief vet Dr Christianne Glossop has since admitted that even in 2018 “the end game will not necessarily be in sight” for TB.

“There are fears that badgers could be wiped out in certain parts of Wales and any cull could last into the 2030s. This is clearly unacceptable.”