Recently Dr Neil Hudson, Shadow DEFRA Minister and Epping Forest MP, returned to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) headquarters in Weybridge, to see the frontline of the UK's fight for its biosecurity.
The visit saw Dr Hudson meet with staff at the APHA, tour the facilities and laboratories that the staff use in its work to keep the nation safe from threats to biosecurity, as well as holding roundtable meetings with staff across a range of specialisms in biosecurity at the APHA, including discussing the progress of the National Biosecurity Centre programme.
Dr Hudson was invited to attend on account of his extensive experience and interest as an MP and a Shadow DEFRA Minister in improving the nation’s biosecurity, specifically his longstanding championing of the need for a fully funded rebuild of the APHA’s headquarters. In the last Parliament Dr Hudson led a delegation visit to Weybridge of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.
Since 2022, the National Audit Office explicitly outlined that £2.8billion was required to complete this vital infrastructure work. The previous Government began this critical project with £1.2billion of funding, and the election of the current Government required them to provide the remaining £1.6million necessary.
As a Shadow DEFRA Minister, Dr Hudson raised this issue seventeen times in Parliament before the Government finally listened and said in June 2025 that it would commit £1billion to a rebuild, on top of £208million they had previously announced. Dr Hudson is clear, however, that he would like to see the around £200million shortfall remaining also be filled as quickly as possible.
He has likewise sought to raise the alarm surrounding the current situation facing the UK’s biosecurity at the border, following the implementation of the Border Target Operating Model after the UK left the European Union. Worryingly, illegal meat seized so far this year up to April, 72,872 kilogrammes worth, close to the total amount seized in the whole of 2024 (92,382kg), in data provided in a written question from the Government to Dr Neil Hudson.
Problematically, however, further attempts to get up to date data on illegal meat imports have been met with responses from the Government indicating that they do not have data they can provide in an accessible format, heightening concerns that there is no data base necessary to know the true scale of the amounts of illegal meat that may be flooding the UK meat market.
Following the visit, Dr Hudson commented:
“My huge thanks to everyone at the APHA for taking the time to show me around and talk with me about their critical work in protecting the nation’s biosecurity, including the rebuild that I have repeatedly called for.”
I am hugely grateful for all that everyone at the APHA does on the frontline to keep our nation safe from threats to our biosecurity.
With Avian Influenza, Bluetongue virus and Bovine TB very much with us in the UK, and Foot and Mouth and African Swine Fever on the European continent, advancing with the vital rebuild and investing properly in our biosecurity, including against illegal meat imports at the border, will remain an urgent priority for me in my role as a Shadow DEFRA Minister.”
