Blair to declare disease battle 'won'

The backlog of carcasses is clearing

The battle against foot-and-mouth is nearly over, Tony Blair is set to announce on Thursday.

The prime minister's confident assessment, in his first formal press conference on the crisis, is expected to pave the way for a general election on 7 June.

It comes as the backlog of slaughtered animals is being cleared and the number of new daily cases of the disease continues to fall.

Foot-and-mouth facts

Total number of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the UK 1,538 - 9 on Wednesday

2,382,000 animals have been slaughtered

118,000 animals awaiting slaughter

Mr Blair will warn that there is no room for complacency as the disease enters its final stages.

But the Conservatives are suspicious about the timing of the announcement when elections are expected to be held in June.

Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo said: "We welcome any improvement in the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and if the numbers are getting better that is excellent news.

"But there must be a genuine improvement. We must not relax policy until it is safe to do so merely because there may be an election coming up."

Despite the government's upbeat message, a new case of foot-and-mouth was confirmed in Somerset on Wednesday, 10 days after the county was declared free of the disease.

Anthony Gibson, south west regional director of the National Farmers' Union, said the outbreak - only the county's second case since the crisis began - was "shattering news".

It has also emerged that pupils taking exams this summer will be given special consideration if their studies have been affected by the outbreak.

In new guidance to schools, exam boards say pupils' grades will take into account missed coursework, time off school and emotional distress.

Tony Blair will say the end of the outbreak is in sight

For the Downing Street press conference, Mr Blair will be joined by Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, Chief Scientific Adviser Professor David King and Chief Vet Jim Scudamore.

"It is clear that we are winning the battle against foot-and-mouth. We have the right policy. It is working," he is expected to say.

"The trend of the disease is clear and the number of daily cases has fallen.

"But there will be no relaxation of our guard. No complacency."

'Belated' action

Mr Blair is also expected to say that, according to a report, the current outbreak has been controlled more effectively than that of 1967.

But the Conservatives say that the action was taken "belatedly", and more should have done immediately.

Mr Yeo said: "Had this been done, the damage and cost to the British farming and tourism industries would not be as high as it is now, nor would the scale of the epidemic have reached such proportions."

He said the government's "policy change" after media reports of Phoenix the calf, which survived a cull, increased fears that Mr Blair was driven by the need for a good soundbite.

There are reports on Thursday that the calf will be in the limelight once again when she stars alongside Shane Richie in a pantomime at the Wimbledon Theatre at Christmas.

Beating the backlog

Later on Thursday the last of the carcass backlog was expected to be burned in Devon.

This compares with a week ago when 83,000 carcasses were waiting for disposal.

Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) officials in Devon said on Wednesday that they would stop using pyres to dispose of slaughtered animals infected with foot-and-mouth disease due to environmental and health fears.

From the weekend infected carcasses will be rendered or buried instead.

Speaking during Wednesday's Prime Minister's questions, Mr Blair said many of the movement restrictions put in place to control the spread of foot-and-mouth were now being lifted.