Anxious wait amid disease fears

Ross Finnie will use emergency powers if required

Farmers in Dumfriesshire are anxiously waiting to hear whether their livestock has contracted foot-and-mouth disease.

If the tests are positive, the Scottish Executive will put further tight controls in place immediately.

Police had been guarding farms at Lockerbie and Canonbie overnight on Wednesday and the results of tests are expected to be known on Thursday morning.

A ban is also in place on the movement of suspect animals within an eight-mile radius of the properties.

Jim Walker: Fearing the worst

In an emergency statement on Wednesday, Rural Affairs Minister, Ross Finnie, said there was a "severe risk" of the disease spreading north of the Border.

He said that 41 farms in Scotland were under supervision.

The Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council said he feared the worst about a possible outbreak of the disease in the area.

Speaking on BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Councillor Andrew Campbell said: "The information that has been given to us so far is very bleak indeed.

He said that the council was co-operating with the Scottish Executive on measures to control infection and asked farmers and members of the public to be vigilant.

"There is to be no access onto farms and all service sectors have got to be very vigilant and understand that they should not enter or go on to any farming premises without due caution and without due reason to do so," he said.

The leader of the National Farmers Union in Scotland, Jim Walker, said the industry was also preparing for bad news.

No cases yet confirmed

If an outbreak of foot-and-mouth is confirmed, Mr Finnie said he would use powers to ban the public from areas at risk.

In his statement to MSPs on Wednesday, Mr Finnie said that 41 farms were under supervision north of the border.

No cases have yet been confirmed in Scotland, although the ban on the movement of livestock is to be extended for a further two weeks.

The number of confirmed cases in England and Wales has risen to 24 with new outbreaks in Powys, Herefordshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Devon.

Mr Finnie received praise in the Scottish Parliament for the way in which he had reacted to the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

A farm in Northern Ireland is the scene of the latest outbreak of the disease and farmers in Scotland are waiting to see if they too will have to cull their stock.