Army rejects Hague call

Mr Blair visits the 24-hour operations centre in Cardiff

The senior officer in charge of army efforts to fight foot-and-mouth disease in the UK's worst hit area has rejected William Hague's call for the military to take control of the crisis.

Brigadier Alex Birtwistle's comments came as confusion hit official government policy on the outbreak, with an early call for a public inquiry into the disease and a mix-up on buried animals.

Had the Army been involved from the beginning, a backlog of this scale need never have arisen.

William Hague

Mr Hague had suggested the Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) was "hopelessly overstretched" and that troops could speed up the disease battle by helping with slaughter, transport, burial and incineration.

Prime Minister Tony Blair brushed aside the Tory calls and played down suggestions that there will be a public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Backlog

Visting the Forest of Dean, Mr Hague said: "When we called for the Army to be brought in, the slaughter backlog was just over 30,000 animals. It now stands at nearly 350,000 - over 10 times higher.

Birtwhistle does not want full control

"It is clear that, had the Army been involved from the beginning, a backlog of this scale need never have arisen."

But Brigadier Alex Birtwistle, who is heading the army's team in Cumbria, rejected the suggestion.

"Everything depends on information, this is very technical information both in terms of science and of where stuff is on the ground," he said.

"It is quite right and proper for it to be a Maff-led operation.

"To be frank, I don't want to lead this operation. It would be too much trouble, too difficult to do."

The Ministry of Defence added that it did not have the necessary expertise to take control of eradicating the disease.

'Incompetence'

Tory shadow defence secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "It is quite incorrect to say that the army is opposed to our policy.

"Members of the armed forces of all ranks tasked with dealing with this crisis have spoken of Maff's incompetence and of disputes between Maff and the Environment Agency, which has caused delay.

"It is they who have made it clear that they would like the army to be given control of field operations to resolve these disputes.

"The Conservative proposal is that once the decision has been made to cull, the army should have control of that process."

To be frank, I don't want to lead this operation.

Brigadier Alex Birtwistle

Mr Blair met Army, police and Welsh Assembly officials at a 24-hour foot-and-mouth crisis centre in Cardiff on Tuesday, to be told that operations were "catching-up" with the outbreaks in Anglesey, Powys and Monmouthshire.

Speaking in Usk, Wales, he said there were "no constraints" on what the army could do.

"I think you'll find the army themselves are reluctant to take on some tasks, and it's got to be a co-operative effort," he added.

Public inquiry

Earlier, Environment Minister Michael Meacher said there would be a wide-ranging public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth crisis, as happened after the 1967 outbreak.

But the prime minister appeared surprised when asked about the inquiry.

The slaughter has generated thousands of carcasses

He has been trying to put the focus on stamping out foot-and-mouth.

"The whole issue of how we learn the lessons of this, we'll have to consider another time," said Mr Blair.

"What we are trying to do now is control and eradicate the disease."

The Environment Department said Mr Meacher was simply reiterating government plans to look at the long term issues raised by the outbreak.

Maff 'cannot cope'

On Tuesday, it emerged that the carcasses of almost 900 cattle and sheep will have to be exhumed after Maff realised they had been buried in an "unsuitable" plot.

The Environment Agency fears that the carcasses buried at Low Houselope Farm could contaminate an underground spring which runs between two villages and supplies local farms.

A second mass burial site in England is to be made operational on Tuesday at an airfield in Worcestershire.

At a meeting in Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon, the prime minister told local authority leaders he wants them to reopen footpaths which do not go through livestock areas.

Councils say it is difficult to decide which paths should be closed and a blanket closure is easier to implement.