Foot-and-mouth setback for Devon

New cases have been confirmed in Devon and north Yorkshire

A new case of foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed in Devon, the first in the county for more than a week.

Details of the outbreak at Wembworthy emerged as Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) officials confirmed eight new cases on Monday, including at least two in the Settle area of North Yorkshire which has been at the centre of a recent cluster.

The Tories said the new cases proved that Tony Blair's claim to be in "the home straight" on the epidemic was false.

Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo said: "In this important livestock area, another foot-and-mouth flare up is a serious setback for farmers, the tourist industry and other rural businesses."

Another foot-and-mouth flare up is a serious setback for farmers

Tim Yeo, shadow agriculture minister

The Conservatives have criticised the level of compensation paid to farmers affected by the disease.

Tory leader William Hague said a Conservative government would compensate farmers who faced the "real prospect" of going out of business.

He said he would go beyond the government's existing measures to compensate farmers whose animals were compulsorily slaughtered or were accepted into the welfare disposal scheme.

Mr Hague, who claimed the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak in the Yorkshire Dales around Settle showed the disease had not yet been beaten, said the situation remained "desperately serious".

Army deployment

He criticised the government's handling of the crisis and promised a Tory government would put the Army in charge of the slaughter operation.

A Maff spokesman said 175 cattle and 143 sheep and lambs would be destroyed following the new outbreak in Devon.

Since the disease first appeared in the county, a total of 378,711 cattle, sheep and pigs have been slaughtered.

The two new cases in Settle have been confirmed at Low Buckerhouse farm in Rylstone and Brigholme farm in Giggleswick, taking the total in the area to 27.

A Maff spokeswoman said: "Both cases of the disease were in cattle.

Foot-and-mouth facts

Total number of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the UK 1,657 - Eight new cases on Monday

3,077,000 animals slaughtered

60,000 animals awaiting slaughter

22,000 carcasses awaiting disposal

"Animals at Low Buckerhouse will be slaughtered, but at Brigholme Farm the animals have already been slaughtered because they were contagious."

Meanwhile, more than 100 protesters gathered at a foot-and-mouth burial site on Monday to demonstrate against dumping carcasses from outside the local area.

The demonstrators, from Widdrington Station in Northumberland, had mounted a roadblock outside the burial site near the Stobswood Brickwork's.

Residents of the village have accused Maff of breaking a promise that the site would only be used for the disposal of Northumberland sheep and cattle.

They say a dozen wagons carrying slaughtered animals from Clitheroe, Lancashire, would be buried there.

Maff has said the Widdrington site had been chosen as there was no disposal site near the Clitheroe outbreak.

The Widdrington burial site has a capacity for 200,000 animals and is due to close on Thursday.

Maff figures revealed there was an average of five new cases every day in the seven-day period ending on Sunday 27 May.

This compares with three in the seven-day period ending on Sunday 20 May.