AN MP is pushing for more support as poultry producers are facing the worst ever bird flu outbreak in history.

MP for Penrith and the Border and the only vet in the House of Commons, Dr Neil Hudson has been speaking out as the UK is ravaged by Avian Influenza.

The MP first quizzed poultry bosses and animal disease experts as part of an urgent Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee Inquiry, before lending his expertise to a parliamentary debate on the outbreak which is wreaking havoc on bird populations and drastically impacting the farming sector.

Avian Influenza is a highly contagious disease affecting both poultry and wild birds.

The Chief Executive of British Poultry Council, Richard Griffiths, told the EFRA Committee that of the usual 1.2 or 1.3 million free-range birds grown for Christmas, around half (c.600,000) of these animals have been directly culled. And over a million total Christmas birds have died or been culled this year. This figure is just one part of the wider picture where more than 1.6 billion birds have been culled on farms across the UK.

This topic is a personal one for Dr Hudson who was on the front line of the 2001 Foot and Mouth Crisis working as a Veterinary Inspector, so understands all too well the economic, cultural and human health implications of an animal disease outbreak.

The EFRA panel heard from experts on a range of Avian influenza issues including potential consumer price increases for poultry and eggs, small and medium businesses facing closure, the implementation of housing requirements to protect captive bird populations and how birds are classified as free-range or barn birds.

Dr Hudson then made a wide-ranging speech covering a vast range of issues such as the human impact of the outbreak, and particularly the effects it is having on the mental health of people working on the front line of disease control and the support networks available in the predominantly rural communities. He also pushed for an international approach to the problem as diseases do not respect borders, for farmers to receive compensation earlier in the cull process and to explore a more sophisticated insurance scheme.

Meanwhile nearly 2,000 abandoned chickens have been reported to the RSPCA already this year and the charity fears this number could rise due to bird flu.

Worryingly, these shocking new figures are already eight percent higher than for the entirety of 2020, according to RSPCA.

Meanwhile, Defra Secretary, Dr Thérèse Coffey MP, was to be questioned this week on a wide range of topics - from the rising cost of living to sewage pollution - by MPs on the parliamentary committee that scrutinises her department.

With food inflation at its highest rate for many years, Dr Coffey may be asked about government assistance for farmers facing high feed, fertilizer and fuel costs as well how DEFRA , working with other government departments, supports low-income families accessing healthy nutritious food.

There are also likely to be questions on labour shortages in the food and farming sectors and the issuing of visas to foreign workers. An EFRA Committee inquiry that published a report in April 2022 heard from the National Farmers Union that labour shortages were “probably the single biggest issue” facing food supply chains.

Dr Hudson, a member of the EFRA Committee said: “Our EFRA Select Committee is there to scrutinise the work of DEFRA and provide advice and recommendations to support the sectors that this Government Department has jurisdiction over. As part of that, it is vital that we quiz ministers on the issues facing these sectors. From food security, to farming payments, to labour issues, to Avian Influenza to stopping pollution of our waterways, we will thoroughly probe the Department. I am holding a Farmer Roadshow in Penrith today for Cumbrian farmers, so I will be able to garner their views to take to our EFRA Inquiry Session next week.”

The Committee was also likely to follow up on its recent session on bird flu.