The Government's handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis traumatised farmers and broke animal welfare laws, according to a European inquiry report.

At the end of a year-long investigation, a document drawn up by a special cross-party European Parliament committee blames officialdom for adding to farmers' foot-and-mouth woes with red tape and bureaucratic delays in dealing with the disposal of slaughtered animals.

It also condemns government information policy and says the slimming down of the government veterinary service over a 20-year period "weakened the capacity for responding to the crisis".

Farms were sealed off during the crisis

The final version of the report was being agreed by inquiry members on November 20th, before being put to the full European Parliament in December 2002.

But Conservative MEP Robert Sturdy said it was already clear that it amounted to a "damning indictment" of government policy.

The report criticises "considerable shortcomings" in government contingency plans for such an outbreak and "poor" information policy, particularly for getting foot-and-mouth details to local authorities, veterinary services and farmers themselves.

There were delays in decision-making, "bureaucratic and formalistic procedures" impeded the disposal of animal carcasses, and staff shortages at disease control centres all added to "considerable stress amongst those concerned".

There were also "violations of animal welfare legislation during culls," with breaches of environmental legislation in the arrangements for mass burial pits and funeral pyres for diseased animals.

In individual cases, the report said, affected farmers were "intimidated and pressurised in connection with the culls.

Report recommendations:

Its recommendations in case of future similar outbreaks include the adoption of compensation schemes not just for farmers, but other affected businesses, such as tourism.

Stringent cleansing measures were brought in

It suggests that vaccination becomes a priority response from the outset, to limit the devastation to livestock, rural communities and the economy.

It urges streamlined measures to speed up payment for contractors carrying out government work in connection with outbreaks, and new anti-fraud measures to avoid repeats of the problems encountered by the UK authorities in dealing with contractors carrying out disposal work.

Mr Sturdy said: "This report is a damning indictment of the British government's handling of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

"It is quite clear that the outbreak could have been better contained if the Government had put in place an immediate ban on the movement of animals.

"There is also clear evidence that the Government has been falsifying figures in an attempt to play down the true impact of the outbreak: government figures suggest that six million animals were slaughtered, but our findings point to a figure of 10 million."

previous farming news