Foot and Mouth Crisis
The foot and mouth crisis has been a devastating blow to our community.
I have been inundated with calls, letters and
emails from local farmers,
tourist businesses and others whose livelihoods are being destroyed.
These have included:
- a farmer from Staveley whose sheep and lambs are dying daily
on their winter feeding site in Nottingham because MAFF officials
have failed to provide the paperwork needed to allow the movement
of his livestock back to Cumbria;
- a Doctor in Ambleside who believes the backlog of culled
animals may create a human health hazard;
- a retired vet from Grange who has rung MAFF officials on three
separate occasions with an offer to help with the county's
veterinary shortage, only to be told 'don't call us, we'll call you';
- a Beetham farmer's wife who cannot understand why Ministers have
made no contingency plans to postpone local elections and the
national Census in the face of a national emergency;
- a pub landlord from Ambleside whose trade has dried up at the
same time he has been issued with a £30,000 Business Rate bill.
When the foot and mouth crisis begun I wrote immediately to hundreds
of local farmers and businesses to offer help and to ask how the crisis
was affecting them. Typical farming losses were £355 a week while other
businesses had lost £6,901 on average. After meeting with farmers in
Broughton, I called for the Government to deploy the Army in full, to provide
an immediate and complete exemption from business rates for all affected
businesses and to provide interest-free loans which would only be repaid
when profitability returns. At Prime Minister's Question Time I told Tony
Blair about the plight of the Lake District and urged him to come to Cumbria.
On 22nd March I called for the Government to consider a vaccination strategy
if the culling policy did not work swiftly. This stand has been backed
by many farmers, tourist businesses, animal welfare groups, the National
Trust and the National Park, and I have once again urged Agriculture Minister
Nick Brown to go down this route as the only way to be sure to protect the
vital Lake District rare breeds of sheep and the fastest way to get
footpaths reopened and business back on an even keel.
In 1996 - with full EU support - Macedonia used vaccination to stop foot
and mouth in three weeks. In 1999 the EU funded a vaccination programme in
Tunisia and Algeria which stopped foot and mouth in six weeks. It must
be time now to go down this route ourselves before Cumbria's landscape,
livestock and economy are all destroyed.
Whatever the Prime Minister decides to do in the coming weeks, I will
continue to concentrate on trying to help those affected by the crisis.
My office at 112 Highgate, Kendal will stay open as normal to receive
any requests for help. Should you wish to contact me by
email, I can be contacted at:
listening@timcollins.co.uk
TIM COLLINS MP
www: Tim Collins Website
email:
listening@timcollins.co.uk
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