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		EU slates Labour Government over Foot and Mouth Disease Tuesday, October 1st 2002 The British Government's handling of the Foot and Mouth has been slated in a first draft report by the European Parliament's Temporary Committee of Inquiry into Foot and Mouth Disease. The draft conclusions by a German Socialist MEP heap criticism on the government for the mass cull, stating that it was "doubtful whether the contiguous cull strategy was really responsible for curbing the epidemic". Other damning criticism within the report concludes that 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"; that people affected by the disease were subject to "bureaucratic and formalistic procedures for obtaining compensation" and that "the 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". Speaking from the European Parliament East Midlands Conservative Euro-MP Chris Heaton-Harris said: "The draft conclusions couldn't be clearer - 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." East Midlands Euro MEP Roger Helmer added: "Labour should be ashamed of their handling of Foot & Mouth. They should be ashamed of their refusal to have a full public enquiry in the UK. And they should be ashamed at having to be told how to do their job by the European Commission.