EU gives vaccination go ahead

Gen Sir Mike Jackson says the army will help where it can

European Union veterinary experts have approved a request from Britain to have the option of using vaccines in two areas seriously hit by the foot-and-mouth epidemic.

The EU's Standing Veterinary Committee agreed to a request for what officials called the protective vaccination of 180,000 dairy cattle in Cumbria and Devon.

On Wednesday morning the Commander in chief of Land Forces, General Sir Michael Jackson, spoke of how the army is helping to fight foot and mouth.

Nobody likes to see death and it is just an awful waste, dreadful waste

Gen Sir Mike Jackson

Asked how the operation compared with the military, he said it was a "rather different sort of conflict".

"It is not one involving human beings who cannot get on with each other, it is a very tragic disease in our own country," he said.

"Nobody likes to see death and it is just an awful waste, dreadful waste."

The general is in charge of the army's co-ordination of the mass cull in Cumbria, Devon and Wales.

Tourism ailing

Also in Cumbria, in the Lake District town of Keswick, PM's Chris Hogg spent the day speaking to those involved in rural tourism.

He asked local hoteliers and shopkeepers whether they had seen any sign of the government aid promised a week ago to their devastated businesses.

Click the audio link about to hear Chris's report.