The NFU will no longer be pursuing a judicial review of the Secretary of State’s announcement on wildlife culling licences as part of TB control measures, but remains committed to a legal challenge, it announced today.
"While the initial view was that the Secretary of State’s announcement on July 7 could be challenged by judicial review, subsequent guidance to Natural England published on September 2 made the success of such a challenge much less likely. We have therefore taken the decision not to pursue a judicial review on the Secretary of State’s announcement, although remain open to the possibility of a judicial review on a separate point of law," said NFU director of policy Martin Haworth.
"This emphatically does not mean we have abandoned any idea of challenging this policy, however. After detailed consideration, the union is assessing other legal avenues and we remain committed to supporting a challenge to what we believe is an unlawful restriction on producers’ ability to take action to prevent the spread of TB on their farms," said Mr Haworth.
