POLITICIANS were urged not to make controversial badger culling a party political issue in the general election campaign.

Meurig Raymond, NFU president, said that in Somerset and Gloucestershire where culling has taken place, the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle had fallen.

He criticised Labour for pledging to give up on culling if they are elected and appealed to political parties not to tear up the 25-year comprehensive strategy on tackling TB.

He admitted there were no easy solutions to TB in livestock. "But I want to stress that in the two pilot areas in Somerset and Gloucestershire we are already seeing that TB incidence on farms has declined. Not just by a small amount either – in the Somerset pilot area TB incidence on farms has decreased from 34 per cent to 11 per cent compared to two years ago.

"In Gloucestershire, vets are also reporting a reduction in TB in cattle too. And just two days ago, one of our Gloucestershire members was given the fantastic news that his farm is now clear of TB, for the first time in 11 years. He is very clear that the only thing that's changed on his farm is that we are now doing something to control the disease in wildlife."

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss pledged that any future Conservative government would "take the difficult decisions to deal with this disease".

She said: "It is shameful that under the previous government bovine TB increased nine-fold and we ended up with the highest levels of the disease in Europe. It is incredible that they would like to make the same mistake again."

She said the Government's 25-year strategy included cattle movement controls, vaccination in "edge" areas around disease hotspots, and culling where the disease is rife.

"We will not let up, whatever complaints we get from protest groups. We're in it for the long haul. We will not walk away," she said to applause from farmers.