Relentless spread of the virus

Distress for farmers as livestock goes up in flames

Thursday 1st March 2001

The implications of the foot-and-mouth crisis now extend beyond the restrictions on the movement of livestock.

The date of the Local Elections in England could be pushed back from the scheduled slot of May 3rd.

If that is the case, would that automatically put paid to the Government's General Election plans - widely expected to have been called for the same date?

The first inklings of a possible postponement came during an interview given by the Agriculture Minister, Nick Brown, to the BBC.

Avoid farms

Agriculture minister Nick Brown raises doubts about Election date

He said: "A number of MPs have made representations saying it would be unfair to hold an election in circumstances where a part of our community is constrained by taking part in it.

"I have asked MPs and all political activists to stay away from farms - the implications of that are not lost on anyone."

But a Downing Street spokesman said there were "no plans" to move the local election date and "no contingency" for other dates.

Crufts cancelled

He refused to be drawn on whether the outbreak would therefore affect the date for a general election.

Drastic measures to combat spread of the virus

There are now thirty-one confirmed foot and mouth cases in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

More possible cases are being investigated and the latest event to be cancelled because of concerns about foot and mouth is the annual Crufts dog show.

Animal movement is madness

Army manoeuvres have been curtailed, zoos in Scotland closed and 200 extra police officers sent to the Irish border to try and halt the spread of the disease.

Economic crisis for the UK's farms

Dyfed Powys police are investigating claims that sheep are being moved illegally at night: an action they described as "madness".

The Department of Agriculture in Northern Ireland has impounded a lorryload of cattle, which was being transported from within a 'foot and mouth' exclusion zone.

No alternative but to break the law

Jeremy Blacker, a farmer in Somerset, said the flouting of the regulations was a sign of desperate times.

Vehicles are disinfected to combat the spread the virus

"Some farmers haven't got any alternative but to break the law," he said.

The Irish Republic's Minister of agriculture, Dr. Joe Walsh, said that there was currently no sign of an outbreak in the country.

But he stressed that no-one was treating the situation lightly.

"It is fair to say that we have measures in place as if there was an outbreak in the country, even though there isn't one," he said.