A cross-party group of MPs said the pilot culls "decisively failed" to meet criteria.

Debate in Parliament sees 219 MPs vote against culling

MPs voted against a future roll-out of the badger culls at a parliamentary debate yesterday (March 13) urging the Government not to grant any further licenses.

Led by Mrs Anne Main, a cross-party group of MPs said in a motion for debate that pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire had "decisively failed" to meet the criteria set by Defra.

Pilot badger culls were carried out in both areas last year as part of a programme to eradicate bovine TB (bTB). The Government has said previously that the culls may be rolled-out to other areas.

Pilots in both Somerset and Gloucestershire, however, failed to meet their targets to remove 70 per cent of badgers, despite being granted extensions to the six-week cull period.

In yesterday's debate, 219 MPs voted against a roll-out of the culls.

As well as failing to meet targets, the high financial cost of the culls was criticised, with policing costs, additional monitoring and expensive cage-and-trap methods "substantially" increasing the cost.

The decision to extend the pilots without a debate or vote in Parliament was also said to be regrettable, as was the fact that an Independent Expert Panel (IEP) will only assess the humaneness of the original cull period, not the extension.

Defra appointed the IEP to assess the humaneness, safety and effectiveness of the culls.

The BBC recently reported leaked findings from the IEP's report, indicating the cull failed on humaneness and effectiveness, with 18 per cent of culled badgers taking longer than five minutes to die. However, the report has not yet been officially published.

In yesterday's debate, 219 MPs urged the Government to halt the culls pending the development of alternative methods to eradicate bTB.

Commenting after the debate, executive director of the Humane Society International said: "Once again MPs have voted to halt the badger cull and now it’s time for the government to listen."

It has since been reported that the IEP's report has now been received by Defra's secretary of state Owen Paterson but will not be published until a decision has been made on whether to roll out the culls.

For further information see http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/backbench-business-committee/news/mps-debate-the-badger-cull/