Anger over illegal livestock movement claims

Farmers leaders in Britain have reacted angrily to Government claims that farmers themselves may have been responsible for the rapid spread of foot-and-mouth.

Trading standards officers have investigated 309 cases of alleged illegal livestock movements since the outbreak began.

The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food wants farmers to observe the tightest possible precautions.

At the same time West Mercia Police announced they are launching an inquiry into alleged fraudulent compensation claims involving unauthorised animal movements.

However, the National Farmers' Union's south west regional director, Anthony Gibson, said there is no justification for the Government to blame farmers and he bitterly accused ministers of trying to take the heat off themselves.

"I think it is about time that they either put up or shut up," he told the BBC.

"They have been making these insinuations almost from the start of the epidemic, suggesting it was farmers themselves who were responsible for spreading the disease rather than their own incompetence for not bringing it under control.

"They have produced absolutely no evidence whatsoever to substantiate those allegations and we think it is about time that they did."

The row broke out after BBC2's Newsnight obtained a report, drawn up for the Prime Minister, disclosing that trading standards officers had investigated 309 cases of alleged unlicensed livestock movements since the start of the outbreak.

The programme-makers suggested that a few desperate farmers are even suspected of deliberately infecting their flocks with foot-and-mouth disease in order to claim compensation.