The government has formally adopted a long-term strategy to eradicate bovine TB from England by 2038, Biosecurity Minister Baroness Hayman announced on 5 June 2026.

The share of herds losing TB-free status fell by a fifth over the past year, from 4.2% to 3.4%. No badgers were culled in 2026, the first year without a cull in more than a decade, fulfilling a manifesto pledge.

The strategy includes cattle vaccination, with a target deployment date of 2030, alongside a new skin test to distinguish vaccinated from infected animals. It also covers mandatory blood testing, expanded badger vaccination through a newly contracted Badger Vaccination Field Force, and a government-funded scheme to test found-dead badgers.

A new industry-government board is expected to replace the existing Bovine TB Partnership for England in 2027 and will oversee delivery of the strategy.

Some 20,244 cattle were removed for TB control in the 12 months to June 2026, down 4% from 21,126 the previous year, accordi

The European Central Bank's headline wage tracker, updated with collective bargaining agreements signed up to mid-October 2026, shows negotiated wage growth of 2.3% for full-year 2026, based on coverage of 46.2% of employees in participating countries. The tracker rises to 2.7% in the second half of 2026 and 2.8% in the first half of 2027, then declines to 2.4% in the third quarter of 2027, where employee coverage is still limited at 23.3%. Compared with the September 2026 release, the headline tracker was revised upward by around 0.1 percentage points on average for the second half of 2026 and first half of 2027. Excluding one-off payments, the tracker averages 2.8% across the first three quarters of 2027, slightly above the 2.6% recorded for full-year 2026, indicating modestly higher permanent negotiated wage growth. The ECB cautioned that the forward-looking component should not be read as a forecast, as it reflects only currently available data from active collective bargaining agr