Britain's chief vet Jim Scudamore is visiting Cumbria to explain the Government's planned pre-emptive slaughter of up to 500,000 healthy animals to farmers.

The foot-and-mouth epidemic is likely to persist for several months, British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has warned.

The British Government has vowed to continue with plans for the controversial mass slaughter of healthy animals which may have come into contact with foot-and-mouth disease.

British farmers are bracing themselves for a mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands of healthy animals in a bid to halt the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.

British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown is expected to announce a "pre-emptive strike" against foot-and-mouth disease.

Soldiers could be used to cull wild animals as British Government officials continue to combat the foot and mouth outbreak.

Four more cases of foot-and-mouth have been confirmed - taking the daily total to 17 and the number of outbreaks to 181.

The number of foot and mouth cases in the UK has climbed to 139, with a 140th case awaiting confirmation by the Ministry of Agriculture.

France confirmed last night that their Six Nations clash with Wales next week would go ahead despite the ongoing foot and mouth crisis but plans to finish the tournament this season still look in serious doubt.

Britain's Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore acknowledged that the scale of the foot and mouth outbreak had come as a shock.

A record daily number of foot and mouth cases has been confirmed as Britain's foot and mouth crisis shows no signs of ending and the disease spreads to one more county.

Britain's farmers are facing weeks more of foot-and-mouth misery as Britain's top vet warned the crisis will still last a long time and the number of outbreaks continues to rise.

Farmers in Britain were today warned that foot and mouth crisis is set to last a long time yet.

Britain's farmers have been warned that the foot-and-mouth crisis is far from over and is going to last a long time.

A new case of foot-and-mouth has been confirmed in Longtown, Cumbria - bringing the total to 27.

Vets believe that more cases of foot-and-mouth are likely to emerge.

Another case of foot-and-mouth has been confirmed, bringing the total number in the outbreak across the country to ten.

A seventh outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a cattle and sheep farm in Devon has been confirmed by British Agriculture Ministry officials.

A sixth outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been revealed.

European Union experts are meeting to decide whether to impose an immediate ban on all livestock exports from the UK.

British farmers are being warned to check their animals after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among pigs was confirmed.