THE British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, predicted yesterday that the EU ban on British beef may be lifted by October. He was defending the deal he made at the EU summit in Florence at the weekend.
Mr Major insisted the government's policy of non co-operation had been a success.
In his statement to a packed House of Commons on the Florence summit, Mr Major said that the non co-operation policy had been a "decisive factor" in making progress on the ban.
However, he said, "normal business" would now be restored with Britain's European partners.
After describing the deal agreed in Florence as a great step forward Mr Major said Britain had to meet five conditions before the ban could be lifted.
However, he said he was optimistic that the necessary two factors which would reopen the export market would be met by October.
"The issue will now be dealt with on a proper, rational basis, with the timetable for the lifting of the ban dependent on our own efforts", he added.
However, the Labour leader, Mr Tony Blair, immediately derided the British government's handling of the beef crisis, citing it as yet another example of Mr Major's capacity to "turn any crisis into a catastrophe" and predicted it would continue to affect Britain's relations with Europe for years.
"The truth is whatever fig leaf you have today, the damage will be with this country for many years to come", he said.
Mr Blair pointed out that Mr Major had failed to obtain a definite date for the lifting of the ban at the summit and suggested that there were divisions within the cabinet over the handling of the crisis. We even had this Whitehall farce continued at Florence when we had the spectacle of the government trying to hang on to one government minister who was trying to resign and hanging the poor Agriculture Minister out to dry to try to get him to resign", he said.
Earlier, the beleaguered Agriculture Minister, Mr Douglas Hogg, refused to discuss reports that he had offered to resign over his handling of the beef crisis. "The jobs of all ministers are at the disposal of the prime minister of the day", he said.