Tory leader Michael Howard has pledged to review the
case for a full public inquiry into the foot and mouth disaster in the
light of new evidence of a Government cover-up.
In an interview with the WMN Mr Howard said he was "very
interested" in the emergence of a video showing appalling conditions on
the farm where the 2001 outbreak is thought to have started.
The
video was shot the day after foot and mouth was found on Bobby Waugh's
Northumberland pig farm - and just one month after it had been issued a
new licence by Government vet Jim Dring.
Earlier this year, the WMN
revealed that Mr Dring himself felt the foot and mouth crisis "would never
have come about" if his inspection of Waugh's farm in the weeks leading up
to the outbreak had been "more rigorous".
But neither Mr Dring's
report, nor the video, were submitted to the official "lessons learned"
inquiry chaired by Dr Iain Anderson - a fact which Mr Howard said "does
not inspire public confidence in what happened".
The Tory leader
said that a future Conservative government would consider holding a fresh
inquiry into the disaster if serious questions remained unanswered -
although he stressed that he would prefer to see those responsible held to
account while they were still in office.
"We will see how many
questions remain unanswered when we come into government and make a
judgement then," he said. "I would want to look at it again in the light
of the latest up-to-date information."
Shadow Agriculture Minister
Owen Paterson, who has tabled a series of Parliamentary questions about
information withheld from the Anderson Inquiry, said there was clear
evidence of a "cover-up".
Mr Paterson, who has called on Rural
Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett to reopen the inquiry in the light of
the new evidence, said: "I have absolutely no doubt that there was a
cover-up. Many people in the countryside are still absolutely boiling
about this - it will not go away."
Mr Paterson has also tabled
questions about the fate of scientific test results taken on livestock at
Waugh's farm at the time of the outbreak.
Some observers believe
the tests could show that the disease was present at the time of Mr
Dring's inspection of the farm on 24 January 2001.
But the test
results do not appear to have been sent to the Anderson Inquiry.
A
senior agricultural lawyer has suggested that the emergence of new
evidence about the origins of the outbreak could bolster claims for
compensation against the Government from businesses affected by the
disaster. Chris Price, solicitor for the Country Land and Business
Association, said the new video suggested that Waugh's farm should have
been closed down by inspectors before the outbreak began.
Mr
Paterson said Government attempts to cover-up the origins of the outbreak
had left the UK "wide open" to a similar event happening again.
But
the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insists that the
video contains "nothing new". A spokesman said the video had been shown at
Waugh's trial.
The Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw has told
that WMN that the Government will not reopen the inquiry. He said that
those pressing for a new inquiry were determined to pin the blame for the
disaster on the Government.
Mr Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, said: "This
is just a politically orchestrated campaign to try and put the blame for
foot and mouth on the Government rather than on the farmer who was
responsible through his criminal activity," he said.
However Mr
Paterson said that even the dreadful conditions on Waugh's farm did not
explain by themselves how foot and mouth had started.
He added:
"The crying indictment of the three inquiries we have had is that they
never established where the disease came from. It had to get to Bobby
Waugh's farm somehow.
"The Government does not seem to be remotely
interested in identifying the real source of the disease.
"But
until we know where it came from we are wide open to it happening
again." |