UK Ministers resist crisis calls to delay elections

The British Government is resisting pressure from countryside leaders to delay elections because of the impact foot-and-mouth could have on campaigning.

Almost half the rural county councils affected by the disease have expressed their opposition to holding ballots in May over the spread of the disease.

Environment Minister Michael Meacher, heading the foot-and-mouth task force, said the Government still intends to schedule local elections on May 3.

He said: "It depends on the future course of the outbreak as to whether we are peaking at this stage or whether it is going to get worse. At the moment, it is the intention to continue with the local elections on May 3."

Two further cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been confirmed at Kirkhall Farm, near Dalton, and Rigghead Farm, near Gretna, in Dumfries and Galloway. It takes the total to 28 north of the border.

According to a survey, the leaders of 10 of the 25 affected councils said the Prime Minister should delay the elections until June at the earliest, with only three saying he should press ahead.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has answered a question on elections by saying: "I want to get this (foot-and-mouth) eliminated because it is in the national interest to do so.

"We are pursuing the correct strategy. We are all in this together and I do not want to turn it into a party political issue."

The demands to delay elections came as the US Agriculture Department suspended imports of livestock and fresh meat from the European Union after foot-and-mouth disease was found in France.

Ben Gill, president of the National Farmers' Union, said it was "totally unacceptable" to hold a General Election - widely tipped for May 3 - while people in the countryside were effectively disenfranchised.