Blair faces anger over cleanup ban

Foot-and-mouth still dogs the government

		By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

Tony Blair is playing down the significance of his decision to halt the cleansing of foot-and-mouth hit farms.

His official spokesman has insisted the aim is to ensure value for money from the operation.

He pointed out that those farms where the cleaning process has already been started will not be affected and that the delay will only hit those waiting to be dealt with.

And he said a few weeks' delay would not be significant for farmers and that the government had not announced the change of policy because farmers didn't need to know.

Blair is concerned about fraud

Ministers, meanwhile, have been hinting that the huge difference between the clean-up cost in England compared to Scotland - a £70,000 differential - could be the result of fraud by contractors.

Death sentence

But there are growing grumbles that ministers have mishandled the whole affair.

And there is anger among some farmers that the government is claiming a few weeks' delay in cleaning their holdings is insignificant.

Tory spokesman Tim Yeo says that delay could be the death sentence for some farms and his concerns are supported by farmers' groups.

There are also mounting questions over why it has taken the government this long to discover the huge costs.

Tory leader William Hague has said the government's action is the worst thing it could have done and has pressed home his demand for a full public inquiry into the farming crisis.

What is angering many is that it is now clear ministers had no intention of making any public announcement about the delay.

It was only because of a leak to the Daily Telegraph that the policy came to light.

Blair's dilemma

Also, the ban may not affect the farms already being cleaned, but that is only 1,700 compared with the 7,100 still waiting.

Some are also claiming that it is the way government officials are implementing the cleaning process in England that has made it so much costlier than Scotland or anywhere else in Europe.

Lastly, there is also widespread anger that the policy has only come to light now that the Commons has entered its long summer recess - so there will be no opportunity to question ministers about it.

The prime minister clearly faced a dilemma once he discovered the massive differential between England and Scotland.

Had he allowed the spending to continue he would inevitably have come under attack for failing to control it.

But, now he has acted, he faces attacks for refusing to announce the ban publicly, and of trying to suggest it is of little importance to the affected farmers.

And, with feelings in the countryside already running high, this latest twist is not about to go away.