JOHN HUMPHRYS:                Tim Yeo, do you have any 
misgivings about the mass cull?

TIM YEO:                    Well I think we need to 
understand better the reasons why this cull has been order.  I welcome 
the fact that Jim Scudamore is visiting Cumbria...

HUMPHRYS:                    ...the Chief Vet...

YEO:                        ...the Chief Vet, 
tomorrow.  I think that people will accept what is a very drastic and a 
very distressing process for those that are directly involved, if they 
know that there was a good reason for it.  We haven't yet had quite as 
much explanation about why this is the right way to deal with the problem. 
 I suspect it probably is the right way but I think people actually should 
be given the chance to examine the Chief Vet's advice and I think perhaps 
the Minister himself could go to Cumbria and lead that process of persuading 
people that this is the right policy.

HUMPHRYS:                    Yourself, would you go?

YEO:                        Well actually, William 
Hague has already been, on the very day that this was announced.  I am 
certainly ready to go if it is thought that I can help, but of course I 
don't have access to the advice that the Minister has.

HUMPHRYS:                    No, I was thinking in 
terms of you going, supporting the government, if you like, I mentioned 
the sort of bi-partisan approach earlier.

YEO:                        Well, we've certainly 
been keen to support the government whenever it takes steps that we believe 
are needed to bring this under control, even if those steps are drastic 
or unpopular, they will have our support, because we see this as a national 
emergency, and the bi-partisan approach is the right one, so the Minister 
has my full backing, but he does need to get out there.  You see, people 
in Cumbria, like the rest of the countryside, have suffered for four years 
neglect of the problems of farming, an attack on many rural traditions, 
they are naturally a bit suspicious, a bit resistant to suggestions from 
the government, unless they're told exactly why this is going to happen.

HUMPHRYS:                    Bi-partisan approach 
is the right one assuming of course that they're doing what you think they 
should be doing.  Have you had no misgivings about any aspects of their 
policy.  I wonder for instance, and there is talk there is a plan B, than 
might involve vaccinating animals within the infected areas as perhaps 
an alternative to the cull.  Have you had any thoughts about that?

YEO:                        Well, I've certainly 
had serious and growing misgivings, and indeed I think one the reasons 
why such drastic action is needed now is because the government has been 
behind the game at each stage, it's been a bit slow to react and I'll say 
in a moment what I think should be done.  On vaccination specifically, 
I don't believe that vaccination is the right answer, except that it could 
be used to create a sort of buffer zone around a particular infected area, 
but it would mean that afterwards those animals would have to be slaughtered, 
otherwise Britain would lose it's status as a nation that...

HUMPHRYS:                    ...but do you think that 
it might come to that, that that sort of programme might be sensible.

YEO:                        I wouldn't rule that 
out, there again, I must emphasize I don't have access to the advice that 
the Chief Veterinary Officer is giving, but it seems to me that is a possible 
alternative, but people need to understand that that would also have to 
be followed by a slaughter of those animals, because Britain does not wish 
to lose its status as a country that has been free, and is free, of foot 
and mouth disease, like the rest of Western Europe and North America.

HUMPHRYS:                    You said there were other 
things that you think should be done.

YEO:                        There are.  There 
are three things specifically that should be done and they should really 
be done today.  First of all, because there's concern from farmers and 
many other people about the fact that diseased animals are not being slaughtered 
very quickly, sometimes it's days and days of delay; once a vet knows that 
an animal has the disease, that vet should have the discretion to order 
immediate slaughter, same day slaughter, if they think it's the right thing 
to do.  Secondly, there's a problem of carcasses now.  Tens of thousands 
of carcasses are lying rotting in open fields because they haven't been 
disposed of.  The government should allow on-site burial, on-farm burial, 
to take place, as an alternative to taking these carcasses sometimes hundreds 
of miles away for rendering.  The Environment Agency can advise if there 
are specific areas where the water table is too high, and there might be 
risks to human health, but anywhere else, on-farm burial was used in nineteen-sixty-seven 
as the preferred method of disposal, it should be used again today.  And 
the third measure, again it should be introduced immediately, is to allow 
the army to do more than just sit on a logistical planning team, which 
is all that's happening at the moment.  The army could take part in doing 
both those first two tasks, their skills and disciplines would be ideally 
suited for them, and that would release the very over-stretched personnel 
from the Ministry of Agriculture to do the other tasks for which they're 
trained.

HUMPHRYS:                    What about the licences 
that had been given to move some animals for slaughter?

YEO:                        Well, the licensing 
scheme is one that we support.  We think it's helpful to allow animals 
to go to slaughter, provided that no risks are being run.  And I hope that 
the way in which licenses are issued will continue to be as streamlined 
and efficient as it possibly can be, but there are concerns obviously, 
about the risk of further spread, and the evidence that spread has taken 
place much more widely than was previously thought, is extremely worrying.

HUMPHRYS:                    Compensation?  You support 
the idea of suspending business rates for those businesses that have been 
affected by all of this.  Will you go further than that?

YEO:                        Well, I think that's 
the first step, and it could be taken again, immediate...

HUMPHRYS:                    ...so you would do that 
right now?  You would say to people in those areas, you can forget about 
paying your business rates?

YEO:                        We would say to the 
County Councils, that they could use their discretion in giving people 
relief from business rates.  We think those decisions are best taken closest 
to the sharp end, on the ground.

HUMPHRYS:                    So it wouldn't be a blanket 
exemption? 
 
YEO:                        No, it would be at 
the discretion of the County Council to use that relief in the areas where 
it is most obviously needed.

HUMPHRYS:                    Because it might be difficult 
to target it, mightn't it?  I mean, which businesses could you be sure 
had genuinely been affected?

YEO:                        Absolutely, and that's 
why I think there's a better chance of getting the targeting right if you 
allow the decision to be made a bit closer.  Sitting in Whitehall, you 
certainly won't get it right.  Sitting in each county, you've got a better 
chance, even then it'll be difficult, but you've got a better chance of 
hitting, hitting the right target.  I think we've got to remember there 
are other businesses that are affected besides tourism, as well as some 
transport businesses, there's the food processing industry as well, so 
it's going to be difficult to draw the line, but we think in the first 
instance, those small businesses in the areas where actually movement restrictions 
are applying, are the ones who are most urgently in need.

HUMPHRYS:                    Could be very expensive?

YEO:                        Well, it could.  Of 
course, you might say this what the government has a contingency fund for, 
and we heard a lot a couple of weeks ago in the Budget about just how much 
surplus cash there is around now.  But clearly, it is very important that 
the relief should go to people that the country recognises as being in 
genuine need.  That will of course include some farmers who are not getting 
compensation at the moment, for example the farmer who has got cattle which 
go beyond the age of thirty months and they suffer a big drop in value 
at that point, they also need help, and that's a very easily defined group 
of people.

HUMPHRYS:                    Peter Walker, former 
Agriculture Minister, Conservative of course, has talked, used quite strong 
language about the way the Government has handled all of this.  He talked 
about an unbelievable story of incompetence, and he's particularly concerned 
about the slaughter of ewes, heavily pregnant ewes with their lambs, out 
in fields where they can't be brought in.  The farmers should be compensated 
for their lambs as well.  A - do you agree with that, B - do you go along 
with any aspect of Peter Walker's attack?

YEO:                        Well, I think he's 
right to draw attention to the fact that the reaction of the Government 
has tended to be rather too slow.  I mean animal welfare problems clearly 
are building up quite quickly and we suggested that they should use the 
same scheme that was used after the classical swine fever outbreak in East 
Anglia.  It's called the Pig Welfare Disposal Scheme, it took fifteen days 
to get an answer from the Government on that.  All they do is press a button 
and the whole thing could have been activated immediately. On the particular 
problem about the ewes, of course this time of the year makes that a very 
acute difficulty, and if farmers are going to suffer the slaughter of their 
ewes because they're not able to move them I accept that the overriding 
need at the moment is to prevent the spread of the disease, but clearly 
those farmers will also be entitled to some help.

HUMPHRYS                    Ben Gill talked in that 
film, remarkably thought about possibly for the rest of this year there 
are going to have to be restrictions, he talked about closing roads.   
What are your thoughts about access to the countryside.  There seems to 
be a bit of a mixed message coming across at the moment.

YEO:                        Well, it's worse than 
a mixed message, it's a really confused message, and that's another of 
the areas where I feel the Government are now seriously at fault.  We have 
the Minister of Agriculture, saying don't go to the countryside, stay away 
because you might spread the disease.  You have the Culture Secretary Chris 
Smith and the Environment Minister Michael Meacher saying the countryside 
is open, do come along and go on supporting our tourist trade, and all 
sorts of other things.  Now, that's a very muddled message from the Government.

HUMPHRYS:                    Well, what would you 
say then?

YEO:                        Well, what I would 
say is that we must err on the side of caution at the moment.  The overriding 
aim is to get control of this disease, and therefore people should avoid 
visiting farming areas until it is clear that the disease is brought under 
control.

HUMPHRYS:                    That closes off whole 
areas of the country obviously.

YEO:                        Well, I mean the truth 
is that if we go on having spread of cases, since the Minister a week ago 
said this was under control, the number of outbreaks has trebled.  There 
are thousands of animals awaiting slaughter, thousands of carcasses awaiting 
disposal.  The situation is clearly not under control and so it's important 
that message should be understood.

HUMPHRYS:                    A final quick thought 
about the date of the election.  Should it happen on May the Third, both 
local and general, assuming they intended the General Election to be on 
May the Third.

YEO:                        Well, I believe that 
the whole country now sees the overriding aim as bringing this disease 
under control.  The question Tony Blair has to decide this week is whether 
having an election campaign in the next six weeks is going to be helpful 
to the process of curbing the spread of foot and mouth disease or not.

HUMPHRYS:                    If you were in his position 
what would you do?

YEO:                        Well, I think the 
answer is pretty clear, and I think the public's view is becoming pretty 
clear, and I hope the government will not do anything which jeopardises 
the effort we all want to make to controlling foot and mouth disease.

HUMPHRYS:                    Tim Yeo, many thanks.