Anti-badger cull protestors have been dismissed as people who need to 'get a life' by the area's Member of Parliament.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said claims that the science did not back the continuation of the badger cull were 'complete rubbish'.

"I have no time or sympathy for these people and I couldn’t care less what they have to say. They do not live in the real world, and I really do not take them seriously. They need to get a life and get a job, they can stack shelves in ASDA for all I care," Mr Liddell-Grainger said.

"Instead I listen to my constituents who have to deal with this disease every single day."

Amanda Barratt from Somerset Against The Badger Cull replied to Mr Liddell-Grainger's comments saying he was 'slinging mud with no foundation'.

"He is dismissing the leading independent scientists in the country as well as countless conservation and scientific organisations and is doing a disservice to many small farmers in the area. We would still welcome a public debate with Mr Liddell-Grainger on the issue anytime," she said.

However spokesman for the National Farmers Union, David George, argued that the science does justify the cull.

"It depends on who you ask. We say the science does back up the cull, but both sides use facts and figures to support their case.

"There is a scientific consensus based on a review of the Randomised Badger Cull Trial in 2011 that TB in cattle herds would be reduced by 16 per cent if sufficient badgers were removed from a stylised area of 150km2. We believe that the benefits from the pilot culls will be greater because of the larger size of the areas and the measures put in place to reduce the effects of perturbation (where badgers move from one area to another) through using hard boundaries or buffers such as rivers, motorways and coastline."

To try and get both sides of the story The Gazette has offered to go out with the contractors but it seems highly unlikely they will agree to have a reporter join them for a night of culling.