Welsh farmers urged to press government

WELSH FARMERS have been urged to press their MPs and members of the Lords for an official inquiry into the origins of the foot-and-mouth epidemic.


Glyn Davies, one of the leading farmer members of the National Assembly, said he feared a cover-up by the government in London.


Mr Davies had arranged a showing in the assembly for the Northumberland County Council Trading Standards video unearthed by farmers weekly.


Afterwards, he said: “In my mind the government has something to hide, and now has a liability.”


When chairman of the assembly’s agriculture committee, Mr Davies had called during the epidemic for a separate Welsh inquiry to be held, but he was rebuffed by the Cardiff government, who argued that it would duplicate the London-ordered inquiry.


Mr Davies said he was concerned that all the government in London wanted to do was “to pinpoint an individual [the Heddon farmer] so that the blame would disappear from them”.