LORD May of Oxford has criticised the Government’s badger culling trial.

In the House of Lords on Wednesday, independent crossbench peer Robert May said scientific opinion had been against the cull and the people in charge of it had not even been able to provide a correct estimate of badger numbers.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has said trial culls in west Somerset and Gloucestershire could be extended by three weeks to hit the target of eradicating 70 per cent of badgers.

Lord May, a 75-year-old Australian-born scientist and Oxford University professor, said: “This cull went ahead against the balance of advice from the scientific community in particular that a limited experiment such as this was unlikely to yield much in the way of useful information.”

He asked environment minister Lord de Mauley: “Would you agree with me, however, that we have indeed learned something important? We have learned that those responsible for this so-called experiment are so incompetent that they couldn’t even make a reliable estimate of the number of badgers.”

Lord de Mauley responded saying: “Our policy is evidence-based and we have taken every opportunity to acquire the latest and most up-to-date information.”

Tomorrow there will be a peaceful protest in Witney, David Cameron’s constituency, by charity Care for the Wild.