Farmers' leaders yesterday condemned "insinuations" by British ministers that farmers may have been responsible for spreading foot-and-mouth as police began an investigation into suspected fraudulent compensation claims. In an attack on the Agriculture Minister, Mr Nick Brown, who suggested earlier this week that some cases were due to the movement of "vehicles, people or livestock", Mr Anthony Gibson, the south-west regional director of the National Farmers' Union, insisted there was no evidence to suggest farmers were spreading the disease.
"I think it is about time they either put up or shut up," Mr Gibson told BBC radio. "They have been making these insinuations almost from the start of the epidemic, suggesting it was farmers themselves who were responsible for spreading the disease rather than their own incompetence for not bringing it under control.
"They have produced absolutely no evidence whatsoever to substantiate those allegations, and we think it is about time they did."
Mr Gibson said if allegations concerning farmers deliberately exposing their animals to the disease in order to claim compensation were proved correct then they should be "metaphorically hanged from the highest tree", but he suspected the claims were a "smokescreen" to hide official shortcomings. The BBC's Newsnight programme revealed this week that trading standards officers had investigated 309 cases of alleged illegal livestock movements since the start of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in February.
Mr Gordon Prentice, the Labour MP for Pendle in Lancashire, said he was "absolutely staggered" that some farmers were not acting responsibly, and yesterday West Mercia police started an inquiry into allegations of fraudulent claims for compensation involving alleged illegal sheep movements.
Mr Brown said if livestock was being moved without a licence people should be prosecuted.