A LANCASHIRE badger group has accused the National Farmer’s Union of misleading its members and the public over badger persecution.

The NFU are backing Government plans to start a national badger cull in the hope of stopping the spread of bovine TB to cattle.

The first culls will begin in the hotspot areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset.

Jo Bates-Keegan, chair of the Lancashire Badger Group said: “In the last week the NFU has made comments in the local press suggesting that a cull in the southwest will prevent TB reaching here.

“This could not be further from the truth; the majority of badgers never leave their home territory in their own lifetime. The only way TB in the South west can affect Lancashire is through cattle movement.”