Foster Watch #5 - Don Foster Abstains on Latest Badger Cull Vote

FOSTER WATCH
is a series of posts following Bath MP Foster, who is now Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Details of Don's voting record can be found at http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?id=uk.org.publicwhip/member/40062&showall=yes#divisions



Back in August 2013, Don told the Bath Chronicle that he was 'pressured' into voting for the badger cull, having been told by the former Liberal Democrat Chief Whip that he had to 'toe the party line', and that preferred choice would be to abstain (see here for full article). Of course, now Don is the Lib Dem Chief Whip, and it's now his job to make MPs vote against their wishes.

This week the badger cull was debated yet again in parliament, and yet again the pro-culllers lost the debate - 219 to 1, although unfortunately this vote is non-binding and won't by itself stop future culls. However, some pro-cull MPs chose to abstain, because the report on last year's cull has yet to be published. Don chose to abstain, and then sent the following e-mail to his anti-cull constituents:

"Morning, 

Thank you for contacting me regarding the vote in the House of Commons on 13 March regarding the possible extension of badger culls nationwide. 

As you may be aware, I decided to abstain from voting on this motion and I would like to take this opportunity to explain the reasoning behind my decision. I chose to abstain as I acknowledge and agree that the trials that took place had numerous shortcomings in terms of cost, humaneness and achieving targets.

However, I did not chose to vote for the motion as I believe that we should not side line the issue of bovine TB, but instead endeavor to quickly develop viable alternatives to tackle bovine TB.

Originally, I voted in favour of the trials taking place as bovine TB is a terrible disease that results in the deaths of tens of thousands of cattle every year. Around 28,000 cattle were slaughtered in England in 2012 alone as a bovine TB control measure. It is estimated that we could be paying as much as £1 billion over the next decade if we do nothing to stop the spread of this disease.

Badgers and cattle transmit bovine TB between each other – the scientific evidence to support this link is now beyond dispute. It is equally clear that no other country has managed to make significant progress on bovine TB without tackling how the disease is spread by wild animals. It was for this reason I voted in favour of two badger cull pilots going ahead this year.

However, since the trials started it has become clear that they were not being completely successful and because of this I could not agree to a national roll-out of further cull trials unless I was convinced of the safety, humaneness and effectiveness of these initial trials.

The trials have not reached the target of removing 70% of the badger population, with initial estimates suggesting the trials reduced the badger population by over 30% in the Gloucestershire and around 60% in the Somerset.

It is due to these short comings that I support developing a viable alternative to badger culling. However, at the moment this alternative does not exist as the option of vaccinating badgers, requires them to be trapped and vaccinated on a yearly basis, which I sure you will agree is logistically problematic. The current vaccine available is only around 70% effective, this poses further problems when you consider that in disease hotspots it is estimated that a third of badgers will have bovine TB.

For this reason, it is clear that we need to advance and accelerate work in developing a viable alternative and I am grateful for the work being done by the Wildlife Trust to advance this alternative. The Government is also investing £11.7 million in vaccine development over the next three years.

Furthermore, George Eustice, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, delivered a statement at the end of the debate yesterday. You can read this at the following link http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140313/debtext/140313-0004.htm and scroll to 4:45PM.

I hope that this is helpful in explaining my position on the issue of badger culls. Please do not hesitate to contact me further on this matter on any other.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Don"

Well, where do we start with that? Obviously Don has forgotten that he was pressured into voting for it and attempted to make up an excuse for voting in favour of it. TB declined by 3.4% in cattle between 2012 and 2013 without badger culling - Defra's figures are wrong. Vaccination has been shown to work in Wales - TB has declined by 24% as a result far more than than the 16% reduction that even the government admits that a badger cull could deliver (see here for reference). Last year it was calculated by badger expert Professor Rosie Woodroffe (no stranger to badger culling, as she was involved in the last badger cull, but like all good scientists has accepted that her findings showed that it would make 'no meaningful contribution' to tackling the problem) that the cost of badger vaccination would be £2,250 per square kilometre per year, and that the cost of culling, including the cost of policing, would be £2429 per square kilometre per year (reference). Furthermore, the charity Care for the Wild estimated the cost per badger in last year's cull was £4121 (reference) and in January Biocensus reported that the cost per square kilometre was £12857, with just £3913 per square kilometre for vaccinations in Wales (reference). Vaccination could potentially be even cheaper as we know that there's a lot of potential volunteers who would be willing to help with vaccinating badgers for free (several of our friends recently attended badger handling courses, and many more people across the country have attended similar courses), if it meant a complete end to culls.

Don correctly states that "no other country has managed to make significant progress on bovine TB without tackling how the disease is spread by wild animals", however he neglects to mention that so country has ever solved the problem by culling either. Last year's cull failed to meet the target of killing 70% of badgers in the cull zones, and, which could potentially make the TB problem in these areas worse due to the peturbation effect caused by fleeing badgers (reference). Lastly, as no badgers were tested for TB in last year's cull, there's no way of knowing how many badgers were carrying the disease in the first place. The cull was never going to work, and farmers are being conned. The choice between vaccination and culling is a no-brainer - vaccination is cheaper, delivers better results than culling, and will help to build bridges between farmers and badgerists, not create divisions. Don appears to be on the fence with this issue - e-mail him the facts here: donfoster@parliament.uk

For more on the badger cull, here's our in-depth look at the issues: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-badger-cull-what-you-need-to-know.html

For more on Don Foster, the Foster Watch home page is here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

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National March Against the Badger Cull in London

Nation March Against the Badger Cull, London, 1st June 2013

With the mounting criticism of the government's policy of culling badgers to combat TB, it was only a matter of time before a huge demonstration took place in London.

A large group of badger activists set off from Bristol on a coach, stopping near Bath to collect members of Bath Against the Badger Cull, and headed up to London for the day. The atmosphere on the coach was vibrant as people got to know each other, and a team set about painting people's faces with black and white facepaint. Almost every was dressed appropriately for the day in black and white, with many "Stop the Cull" t-shirts and badger masks on board.

Arriving at the start of the demonstration outside Tate Britain, we were greeted warmly by a crowd of around 2000 people dressed as badgers. As some one put it - "There's never been so many badgers in London!". A range speakers from various organisations addressed the crowd, including Queen guitarist Brian May. See the video below for some of these speeches and footage of the march.

The march then set off with banners and placards raised, good spirits and lots of chanting, as well as sound system on wheels with a painted wooden badger on top.

The march was diverted at the end, and so we didn't go past parliament, due to a BNP demonstration taking place at the same time. Following the march, many headed to St James's Park for a picnic, while others, including Bath and Bristol activist, went on to picket the DEFRA office. On the way, we passed the pitifully small BNP demonstration, and some dressed as badgers chased a few of the fascists hanging around nearby.

For more on the badger cull, see: The Badger Cull - What You Need to Know

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Foster Watch #1 - Badger Cull and Tuition Fees

FOSTER WATCH
is a new series of posts following Bath MP Foster, who is now Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Details of Don's voting record can be found at http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?id=uk.org.publicwhip/member/40062&showall=yes#divisions


The Badger Cull

Today it was revealed that Don voted in favour of the badger cull - see here to find out how all MPs voted: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/todays-commons-debates/read/unknown/186/

Previously, Don signed Early Day Motion 1591, which reads: 'That this House notes the encouraging downward trend in bovine TB incidence in England and Wales; urges the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs not to put these improvements at risk by culling badgers; further urges the Secretary of State to follow the peer-reviewed advice of the Independent Scientific Group to concentrate on improving and rigidly enforcing cattle-based controls and testing procedures in order to bring the disease under control; and calls on the Secretary of State to take account of the opportunities now offered by successful badger vaccination trials and to prepare the way with Brussels for the earliest possible application and introduction of cattle vaccines that offer the only real long-term solution.' http://www.donfoster.co.uk/?p=635

By voting in this manner, Don is now among those responsible for ConDemning badgers to death, when our top scientists have concluded that it will make "no meaningful contribution" to controlling TB in cattle. Although it is possible that the government would have gone ahead with the cull even if they had lost the vote, this site maintains that although it may have harmed his political career, voting against the cull would have been the right thing to do.

Conservative MP Tracey Crouch rebelled against her party's three-line whip yesterday and voted against the cull - because she did her research and decided that it was the right thing to do. Don should have followed her example.http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/mp_tracey_crouch_defies_party_whip_in_battle_against_badger_cull_1_2225038

More on the badger cull here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-badger-cull-what-you-need-to-know.html

Tuition Fees

Don signed the 'Vote for Students' pledge - signed by over 1000 candidates in the 2010 general election, including all 57 Liberal Democrat MPs that were elected into office following the election. However, Don broke the pledge and voted for a rise in tuition fees http://www.libdemvoice.org/tuition-fees-how-liberal-democrat-mps-voted-22346.html

It should be noted that 21 Lib Dem MPs did keep their word, including high-profile MPs such as former leaders Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy.

Speaking to the Bath Chronicle, Don claimed "Had my vote helped to defeat the government, the coalition would have collapsed." The full article is here: http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Don-Foster-votes-Government-tuition-fees-rise-approved/story-11336467-detail/story.html#axzz2VNi2JBhE

This sparked outrage from the students in Bath - a small city with two universities - and his indecision prior to the vote sparked a protest outside his office: www.thisisbath.co.uk/Protest-planned-outside-MP-Don-Foster-s-office-tuition-fees/story-11320295-detail/story.htm

Don lost a lot of trust from the students and may never win it back. 

Foster Watch
1. Badger Cull and Tuition Fees
2. Decarbonisation Targets and NHS Reforms
3. Climate Change in the National Curriculum
4. Don's Revised Opinion on the Badger Cull

Disclaimer
Standing Stone's Blog and Foster Watch is an independent blog that is not affiliated with, nor endorses, any political party or general electoral candidate currently in existence. It maintains that all leadership and authority should be questioned and seeks to do just that.

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2013 Will be Remembered as The Year The People Fought Back

Now that you can all stop worrying about the end of the world, let’s focus our attentions on the year ahead – there are real things that are a threat to the planet and the people and other life-forms that dwell upon it, and the momentum is already mounting behind the various campaigns and initiatives dedicated to solving the social, political, economic and environmental issues that we’re all concerned about right now. Here’s a summary of what’s in store, with the odd prediction thrown in here and there…

The Big Fight Back Against Austerity

The warning shots have already been fired by a diverse range of groups opposed to the coalition’s austerity measures. Over the last couple of years we've seen actions and debates inspired by UK Uncut, Occupy, 38 Degrees and many other groups. This summer will see delegates from many of these groups, as well as opposition politicians, public figures and members of the public, gather in London for the People’s Assembly Against Austerity. And this is already looking like it will be BIG. No longer will these groups be working in isolation, if all goes well there will be one huge concerted effort to stop the government in its’ tracks. June 22^nd 2013 will be a significant date in British history – the moment the fight back gets serious. For more information, see the letter in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/05/people-assembly-against-austerity and if you want to attend see The Coalition of Resistance’s page: http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2013/02/peoples-assembly-against-austerity-saturday-22-june/. There is a small booking fee.

The Bedroom Tax is likely to become a big issue this year – and it will probably affect you. See here for more info: http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/squaring-up-to-the-bedroom-tax-resistance-grows-around-the-uk/

The Badger Cull

The battles fought so far have been won by opponents to the cull on every level. Almost all of the environmental and animal rights groups are on board, the rock stars and TV naturalists have been talking about this at every opportunity, the House of Commons voted against it and even the government’s own scientists have found through previous trials that it will not work. But the Tories and NFU are winning the war and still plan to go ahead with the massacre this summer. In whom do you trust more? Natural History legend David Attenborough or (anti-) Environment Secretary Owen Paterson? The RSPCA or Defra? Top scientist Lord Krebs or rich farmer (who will profit from the cull) Jan Rowe? The war is far from over, and already activists, campaigners, celebrities and the general public are preparing to put a stop to this unethical, undemocratic and unscientific slaughter. Once the first of Britain’s Most Loved Wild Animal gets a bullet in the head, all hell is going to break loose. Owen Paterson, you won’t get away with this…

Sign the 38 Degrees petition here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/badgers-petition

Standing Stone's Blog is working on a huge article on the badger cull for Head Heritage… watch this space for it!

The Re-Occupation of Britain

The Occupy Movement has been out of the limelight of late, but although the tents are gone it hasn’t gone away… In November last year, Occupy Bath returned with a camp to once again highlight the issues and picket Starbucks, and the Bath People’s Assembly they set up has gone from strength to strength, engaging with other campaigns and coming up with new ideas – one of which, a “Tax Kite Mark” that companies who pay their taxes properly can display in their windows, was recently mentioned in parliament. But that’s not all. Occupy London have been in the headlines of late, having squatted the recently closed Friern Barnet library and started lending out books again – the library has now been given back to the people due to overwhelming public support. In Bristol, people from Occupy Bristol squatted the disused All Hallows Hall with the aim of turning it into a community centre. They have now been given a lease on the building by the owner, who was impressed with their work. People’s Assemblies are being formed by ex-occupiers, providing their communities with real democracy and the chance to have their say and take action. Occupy may be finally finding its' feet and going places, and actions are inspiring other actions. Don’t write the movement off just yet…

Standing Stone's Blog will be covering the Bath People's Assembly's Visions for Change on 27th April - see here for the details released on 5th Feb: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/visions-for-change-2013-announced.html and here for the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/158627290953876/

The Return of the Road Protests

Road protesting was huge in the 90s, when the last Conservative administration embarked on a road building scheme greater than the Romans, and through the actions of protesters and campaigners at Twyford Down, Solsbury Hill, Fairmile, Newbury and other places, many of their road schemes were scrapped. Many of these roads were completely unnecessary and were sold to the public under false pretences – that they would keep traffic away from towns and villages – but the sinister reality was that they were all part of a massive Euro-route, and in many cases made the traffic problems that they were supposed to solve even worse, at the price of losing irreplaceable parts of the countryside. Although there have been road protests since then, none were quite on the scale of the Newbury Bypass. Now George Osborne has announced 191 new road schemes, including some of those scrapped at the end of the 90s. The first has begun already, and the Combe Haven Defenders along the route of the Bexhill-Hastings road have set up camps. Some camps have been evicted already, and media attention has yet to make a huge deal out of this, but when the road building scheme gets properly underway, it’s likely that the tree pixies and tunnel diggers will return en-mass to the countryside.

Frack Off

Rather than embark on a large-scale renewables programme, the government have opted for the cheap, nasty and environmentally destructive method of fracking. Now that the anti-nuclear lobby appear to have held back new nuclear power stations – for now – the government need to find other ways to exploit natural resources and mess up our planet in order to meet the energy demand AND make a tidy profit for the super-rich. Fracking (or shale gas extraction) has been known to pollute water systems, including drinking water, and cause earth tremors. You don’t want to live nearby. Already there are campaigns against this and the signs are that they are growing in numbers and activity.

Save the NHS

The NHS is NOT for sale. But the government are doing their best with attempting to privatise it. If the recent demonstrations and petitions are anything to go by, this is at the top of the agenda for an awful lot of people. The Tories will be committing political suicide for sure if they get their way, but that's not stopping them...

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Of course, no-one wants to be out protesting and campaigning against these issues – we’ve got other things we’d like to do. But the people, our planet and the creatures we share it with are under threat. We can’t let them get away with it. 2013 needs to be the year that we fight back. Or the things we take for granted today will be gone tomorrow. We need to not just put a stop to the things that threaten us, we also need to ensure that they don't happen again. Our society needs a complete overhaul - perhaps even a complete revolution. It's time to start thinking about how much better the world could be, and doing something about it. The fate of the this country and this world is in all of our hands.

 

See you on the picket line.

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Badger Cull Demo in Bath - 27/10/12

Following demonstrations elsewhere in the UK, including several recent demos in Bristol, a group of anti- badger cull activists staged two demonstrations in Bath City Centre today against supermarkets selling milk from the cull areas.

Despite the cull not going ahead this year, and a vote in parliament in which the cull was opposed by a significant majority of MPs, the government plans to proceed with the cull in June 2013. This has given the campaign against the badger cull another 6 months to up their efforts to stop it from going ahead.

Around 15 demonstrators gathered outside Sainsbury's Local in Kingsmead Square at 10am armed with placards and leaflets, and remained there until 12:00 mid-day. Several demonstrators wore masks and costumes, including badgers, foxes and a gorilla, and spoke to many members of the public about the issues surrounding the cull. A security guard stood at the entrance watching, however no attempt was made to move demonstrators.

At noon, several demonstrators relocated to Tesco Express to demonstrate there for another hour. Placards reading "Stop the Badger Slaughter" and "Stop the Cull" were leant against the walls of the store, and the manager requested that they should be removed. The police were called, however the police made no attempt to remove the placards as the demonstrators were within the law.

Now, more than ever, is the time for action on the badger cull. Protests such as today's demonstration, walks around the cull zone, petitions, lobbying government and MPs and spreading the facts about the bader cull - most importantly that the scientists who killed thousands of badgers to see if it would make a difference to bovine TB concluded that it would make "no meaningful contribution" - need to continue, and the sucesses of the past week need to be built upon in order to ensure that this senseless killing does not go ahead.

See here for background information about the badger cull with links and references (an updated version of this is in the works): http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-badger-cull-facts-alternatives-and.html

For more information, visit the Badger Killers website: http://badger-killers.co.uk/

There are many anti-cull Facebook groups, those relevant to today's demonstrations are Stop the Cull and Bath Against the Badger Cull. Please "like" these pages and share their posts.

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Badger Cull - Protest Against Tesco in Bristol

Yesterday (13th October), around 25 anti- badger cull activists held a demonstration outside the Tesco Metro store in Broadmead, Bristol, and with many wearing black "Fuck the Cull" t-shirts or badger masks, we looked like we meant business. Tesco sell milk from the cull areas and the demonstration was intended to highlight this issue and ask people to buy their milk from stores that do not buy their milk from these areas, such as the Co-op, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer.

Badger cull demonstration outside Tesco, Broadmead, Bristol 13/10/12

Several hundred leaflets were handed out to shoppers, many of whom stopped to chat about the cull and find out more, or ask what they could to help. Few were undecided - many people expressed their disgust about the cull and some enquired about the scientific facts - which we had to hand and were able to answer their questions.

Signs outside Tesco

A further demo is planned for Tues 16th October at 11am outside the same Tesco (Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/365084693574574/366478960101814/), and a Bath demo is planned for Sat 27th October outside Sainsbury's Local in Kingsmead Square (Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/477853698915003/).

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Badger Cull - Walk on the Forthampton Estate, Gloucestershire

The following is re-posted from Stop the Cull...

This Sunday we call all of you who care about badgers to put on your waterproofs, grab your maps and head to the Forthampton Estate. 3,000 acres all signed up and paid for the badger cull.

3,000 acres is over 4 square miles, which is approximately 3% of the badger cull zone.

The Yorke family who own the estate run a massive shooting business, they offer the killing of pheasant, duck and partridges for entertainment to syndicates and corporations. It is also a very popular bit of land for the Ledbury hunt to go killing foxes on, so for hunt sabs it is going to be particularly important.

We already have confirmation of nearly 100 hunt sabs coming this Sunday, any shooting going on will be stopped immediately by us.

If you would like to get involved with something a little less confrontational this Sunday we ask you to walk the PUBLIC foothpaths that criss cross this estate and make a note of any pheasant pens or partridge enclosures or anything else that is suspect.

Book mark this page http://badger-killers.co.uk/forthampton-estate-sunday-141012-9am-midnight-we-will-rock-you/ and check it Saturday evening, we will put up more details as we have them. For now it is up to you to start doing what you can to make arrangements.

Consider this a pre-emptive strike.

Forthampton Shoot Website:  http://www.gunsonpegs.com/shooting/buy/shoots.php?id=2917&fb_source=message

 Map of the estate here: http://badger-killers.co.uk/map-for-forthampton/

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