AN action plan to tackle the growing problem of TB in cattle has been agreed by farmers and agricultural industry leaders, and is set to be put before the next Government.

"It is important this is the first thing in the in-tray of the incoming Defra secretary of state," said south-west NFU regional director Anthony Gibson.

"The Government has dithered and fiddled for years as TB has spread like wildfire across the country," said Mr Gibson after the meeting in Exeter, last week.

None of the political parties has included the issue in their manifesto.

But Mr Gibson said there was a "genuine prospect" of action being taken.

"The signals we are getting from Whitehall are that certainly this Government is seriously looking for a solution," he said.

The meeting, organised by the NFU, heard that 7.2 per cent of the country's herds were under TB restriction - with half of the TB cases in the country in the South West, and 24,000 cattle were slaughtered last year after reacting positively to TB tests.

Mr Gibson said the industry was prepared to work with the Government to develop a strategy for reducing and ultimately eliminating TB in cattle and badgers.

Many farmers believe bovine TB is spread from badgers to cattle.

The plan agreed today included using the latest methods to identify and remove infected badger populations, and use vaccine to protect the uninfected.

The Government should also work closely with Irish researchers in vaccination field trials to reduce infection in badgers, and a survey of TB infection in badgers should be extended across England.

If those measures were implemented, then pre-movement testing of over-20 month cattle should be introduced, with post-movement testing to be evaluated.

There should also be an "urgent inquiry" set up into the wider issue of badger population movement.

"The package is intended to deal with all aspects of the TB problem," said Mr Gibson.

He said the "reservoir of disease in the badger population was at the heart of the problem in the South West".

It was, he said "the most difficult and intractable problem in the whole of UK farming and it is getting worse".

The meeting followed letter-writing campaigns to the Government by 350 rural vets and the South West branch of the National Beef Association.

Retired vet Dr John Gallagher, from Devon, who inspired the letter protest, said: "The problem of disease in the badger needs to be addressed.

"If there were not a problem with disease in the badger we would not be seeing problems in the cattle."