We'll beat foot-and-mouth - Brown

Farmers will get full compensation for slaughtered animals

Government action to try to contain the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been outlined by Agriculture Minister Nick Brown in the Commons.

In his first statement to MPs on the crisis, Mr Brown pledged: "The government is determined to eliminate the disease."

The government is determined to eliminate the disease

Nick Brown

He said the seven day ban on livestock movements would be reviewed during the week and further measures could be taken to prevent people walking over farmland.

Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo said the opposition would "fully support" the steps taken by the government to contain and eradicate the disease.

Mr Brown said farmers whose animals had been slaughtered would be fully compensated but he refused to give a commitment to paying "consequential losses".

MPs put aside party political differences to express support and sympathy for livestock farmers hit by the disease.

Nick Brown: Food supplies secure

But there were sharp exchanges when Mr Brown accused the Conservatives of being "unhelpful" by calling for a Commons debate on the issue on Wednesday.

He said the opposition were diverting both ministerial and scarce veterinary resources from "the frontline which is bearing down on this disease".

When Tory MPs continued pressing the point, Mr Brown responded angrily: "This is an opposition that has just said they will do everything they can to help the government in suppressing the disease.

"If their idea of helping is to divert resources from dealing with the disease outbreak to dealing with a parliamentary debate, including ministerial time ... I'm glad they're not setting out to disrupt us."

Closure of footpaths

The government is calling on the private veterinary profession for assistance in the "huge task of tracing and controlling the disease".

"Consideration is also being given to the temporary closure of footpaths and rights of way," said Mr Brown.

Mr Brown said he hoped that the movement restrictions on livestock would not have to be too protracted.

There should be "no serious disruption to food supplies," he added.

Tim Yeo wants money from Europe

For the Conservatives, Tim Yeo described the outbreak as "an extremely serious crisis" and expressed the sympathy of the whole house for farmers affected by it.

He asked what help the government planned for cash-strapped farmers and he called on ministers to claim "immediately" £200m in agro-monetary compensation from the European Union.

The agricultural industry was "too weak" to survive the crisis without "urgent help", he said.

"The risk of human tragedies under these circumstances is very real."

The agricultural industry is too weak to survive without urgent help

Tim Yeo

Liberal Democrat agriculture spokesman Colin Breed wanted to know what regime ministers would bring in when the current emergency measures expired on Friday.

And he wondered what consideration was being given to banning food imports from countries known to have foot-and-mouth disease.

Mr Brown said it was already unlawful to import any product that could carry the disease - but the question was how well the law was being enforced.

No details of a successor regime had been decided but work was being done to see what exemptions could be made in it.