Farming groups have been left ‘shocked and dismayed’ after Boris Johnson played down the prospect of a mass cull of pigs due to a shortage of plant staff.

The prime minister made the comments on Sunday’s Andrew Marr show when questioned on the pig sector’s ongoing problems, and the likely move toward a mass cull of healthy animals.

Producers are seeing a backlog of well over 120,000 pigs on farms, with many quickly running out of space and many more at or close to the limit. The sis due to the labour shortage at processing plants and has slowed down the throughput of pigs through plants causing a severe backlog of pigs on many farms across the UK.

On 4th October, pig producers stages a protest outside the Conservative Party Conference to raise awareness of the sectors struggles at this time. The prime minister responded with a statement suggesting the Home Office were looking into solutions for the current labour shortage.

UK retailers and supermarket chains have also been asked to help the beleaguered sector, by purchasing more British pork.