Cattle Passports were first introduced in 1996 as part of the Government’s strategy to eradicate BSE. Since 1996 the incidence of BSE has declined significantly – occurrences of BSE in the UK are now rare. I would suggest that the old movements recording system (as used pre 1996) would be more than adequate given the present situation.

The Cattle Passports are something of a nightmare for farmers – for instance if a passport is lost an animal is effectively valueless.

Why is this idea important?

A substantial amount of public money is being spent on this out of date scheme. There are large numbers of bureaucrats, inspectors and others being generously rewarded for overseeing a scheme that is no longer necessary.

At a time when there is a significant risk of a sovereign default it seems absolutely crazy to continue spending taxpayer’s on something so expensive and so unnecessary.

Were the Cattle Passport Scheme to be abolished it would enable farmers to spend more time attending to the welfare of their livestock rather than spending many hours of their time on paperwork.

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