The remaining restrictions on livestock imposed in the wake of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK will be lifted today after experts declared the disease had been eradicated.

Official reports into the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak are being published today – and are expected to say faulty drainage pipes at a nearby laboratory could have released the disease.

The recent foot and mouth outbreak in the UK could have been caused by faulty drainage pipes at the nearby Pirbright laboratories or spread by construction workers from the site, it was reported today.

Claims that only a ‘‘small number’’ of soldiers and civilians might suffer kidney damage after heavy exposure to depleted uranium were today dismissed as ‘‘nonsense’’ by a veterans’ group.