Foot and Mouth/Bluetongue

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the degree of damage to hill farmers across the UK associated with the Government's responsibility for the facility in Pirbright means that this is a special case. The Government have to consider their own responsibility and address that. I was interested to hear from the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg), who has much greater legal knowledge than I have. It is clear that DEFRA has a moral, and probably a legal, obligation to get British farming back on its feet. Furthermore, it has an obligation to ensure that what happened at Pirbright never happens again. That a Government facility through institutional negligence has been the source of the outbreak is a national disgrace and the people responsible must be held to account.