Rooker warning on export resumption

The European Commission gave the green light to the return of exports well within a month of the August outbreak. But the unexpected return of the virus this month and the lingering uncertainty as to how it spread guarantees it will take a more cautious approach this time round, he said.

“We put a good case to the EU and they are very confident in how we have handled the outbreak compared to 2001. But commonsense tells you this time it might take a bit longer before lifting the export restrictions again,” he told a Countryside Alliance fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth.

After what happened last time, Brussels will need much greater assurance that the disease has been eradicated before export restrictions are lifted even if it does on a regional basis. Lord Rooker said there were still unresolved issues about the way the disease had spread this time round.

He acknowledged the devastating impact the export ban was having on the sheep industry, which would normally be exporting about a third of lambs produced at this time of year.

He said there were ‘millions more lambs on the hills now than there would have been' due to the export ban and movement restrictions. He said that was why he had been keen to move quickly on movement restrictions.

Earlier, Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan warned that Welsh farmers were facing a ‘catastrophe' due to the knock-on effects of the movement restrictions and export ban.

“In the last six weeks the restrictions have caused a crash in farmgate prices to well below production costs and farming incomes have plummeted from an already very low level to negative figures, at a time when the bank manager and landlord are knocking on the door,” he said.

“Movement restrictions have caused massive immediate and potential animal welfare problems.”

He said there was an ‘air of anger and disbelief that a Government managed research site allowed the release of the virus' and urged Lord Rooker to apply the ‘polluter pays' to compensate farmers for what had happened.

“I believe the Government has a moral obligation to compensate rural communities throughout the UK, far more than any obligation to bail out a bank that made risky investments,” he said, in a reference to the Northern Rock crisis.