STAKEHOLDERS including farmers, vets, landowners, auctioneers and academics have agreed five further action points in the battle against TB in cattle and wildlife.

The group is to amount a concerted lobbying campaign aimed particularly at MPs whose constituencies encompass TB hotspot areas - including the Cotswolds - about the need to address the most infective wildlife reservoir of the disease - badgers.

It is also to encourage all national farming and veterinary organisations to sign up to a single strategy and it has proposed the production of a veterinary-endorsed factsheet to build public awareness of the issues surrounding the disease.

The group also endorsed the NFU's proposals on badger control, requested by the government.

But it suggested that the strategy should be applied merely to infected badger social groups and that culling should only be carried out by fully trained farmers organised and supervised by Defra. It was also agreed that, as a separate exercise, a further badger population census should be carried out.