Record number of foot and mouth cases confirmed
British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown says he is absolutely certain the foot and mouth crisis is under control, despite a record 25 cases being confirmed today.
It is the highest daily total since the crisis began, and brings the total number of outbreaks in the UK to 164.
Brown says all of the cases can be traced back to the original outbreak, although he still could not say how many more would emerge.
Conservative Agriculture Spokesman Tim Yeo says the situation is approaching a national emergency, and the army should be called in to help with incinerating animal carcasses left lying in fields.
Minister of State at the Dept of the Marine and Natural Resources Hugh Byrne says: "I think it's nothing short of a scandal. I believe myself that Britain have totally mishandled this."
He said: "They seem to have been of the opinion that this disease was just going to go away - they seem to me and to many people in Ireland to have cared very little about the farmers in Britain and very little about their neighbours like ourselves."
Brown has defended his handling of the crisis, saying: "It's under control. What we don't know is how much is incubating, which spread before the movement restrictions were put in place.
"I know it's hard, I know it's disruptive, but this is the right thing to do. All the outbreaks trace back to the original source of infectivity - of course there are more than we would have hoped for, but it doesn't undermine the overall strategy."
He said the movement of thousands of carcasses to a rendering plant in Cheshire would help to clear the backlog.
The county has had no confirmed cases of foot and mouth, and some farmers fear the process could add to the spread of the disease. But the minister said more than 30 lorries being used have been thoroughly sealed and tested and would be taken to the plant under escort.
