Ministers suspend cattle cull

The Government last night agreed to put the beef cull on hold following new scientific evidence. The decision was taken at a two-hour meeting of the Cabinet working group on BSE, chaired by the Prime Minister.

Downing Street said in a statement: "The new scientific evidence now available means that further work is needed on appropriate culling strategies ... For the present, the Government is not proceeding with the selective cull but will return to cull options in the light of the developing science and of discussions on the certified herds scheme."

John Major, Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, the Minister of Agriculture Douglas Hogg and other ministers considered how to take forward policy following the latest evidence from a group of Oxford scientists - that BSE would die out naturally - and in the context of the framework agreed in Florence.