David Sumberg MEP
Date: 04/10/2002
EU Damns Labour's Handling of Foot & Mouth
North West MEP David Sumberg said Labour's handling of the Foot and Mouth crisis has been rightly damned by the European Parliament's Temporary Committee of Inquiry into the outbreak.
Mr Sumberg said the committee's draft conclusions heap criticism on the government. Criticisms include:*The 24/48 hour contiguous cull may have involved violations of animal welfare legislation.*The deployment of the army to control the diseased areas "took place at a relatively late stage."*People affected by the disease were subject to "bureaucratic and formalistic procedures for obtaining compensation."*Provision of information from State sources to local bodies and the farmers affected was poor, and advice from the various government departments was repeatedly altered, inconsistent or even contradictory."The draft conclusions couldn't be clearer,' said Mr Sumberg. "The government's handling of the outbreak was a shambles. They got it wrong and our farmers have had to pay the price for their failure.
"When we see the final document closer to Christmas it will no doubt confirm what we and the farming community have known since the outbreak, that this Labour Government is supremely arrogant, inefficient and needlessly made a bad situation much, much, worse."