As the crisis continued to engulf Britain yesterday, the alarm bells were clearly ringing inside Number 10. The government is coming under growing criticism for its handling of the situation - with a May general election seemingly a certainty and no resolution of the crisis in sight. "The problem we have is not knowing where the disease is," was the blunt and chilling assessment offered by the government's Chief Veterinary Officer, Mr Jim Scudmore. Speaking alongside him the Agriculture Minister, Mr Nick Brown - who on Sunday said he was "absolutely certain" the devastating outbreak was under control - warned that the country now faced "a longer haul" than was originally thought.
That became still more clear last night as ministry officials considered the preventative slaughter of half a million stranded hill-farm sheep due to start lambing soon. Also three new areas were found afflicted with the disease as the total number of confirmed cases rose by 19 yesterday from 164 to 183.
A farmer in mid-Wales brought infected animals to an abattoir, creating fears of a possible outbreak there while sparking fresh controversy over the operation of government regulations allowing limited movement of "unaffected" animals.
Council leaders in an area so far free from the disease were demanding assurances on the safety of importing infected carcasses into their county. Officials said they needed to know that the carcasses being brought to the Granox rendering plant in Widnes, Cheshire, were in fact being transported in safely sealed vehicles. The county council leader, Mr Derek Bateman, said they had been unable to defuse anxiety among local farmers because they were not informed of plans to bring carcasses to Widnes from affected parts of the country.
In a letter faxed to Mr Brown and to the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, Mr Bateman said Cheshire trading standards officers had been unable over the last two days to establish that sealed vehicles were used. He said "television and newspaper pictures of skip-type and open-topped lorries" were "inflaming anxiety, as are doubts over licence conditions and compliance". Meanwhile, the president of the National Farmers' Union, Mr Ben Gill, called for a redoubling of efforts as his members grew increasingly desperate: "It's the fear of the unknown. This problem will not be under control until we've had the last outbreak of the disease confirmed and we can go back onto the basis that we are foot-and-mouth free."
Earlier yesterday Mr Brown and Mr Scudamore met Mr Blair to assess the continued indiscriminate spread of the disease after the shattering of original hopes that it might have peaked last weekend.
After that meeting Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "The situation obviously is serious and continues to be taken seriously. As we have said throughout, it's going to be some time before this peaks and it's obviously going to take time before the disease is eradicated. But we have the right approach and it is a tough regime. There are still uncertainties about how this is going to get resolved in that we still don't know how many cases there will be in future."
As fears grew about the impact of the crisis on Britain's tourism industry, Mr Scudamore declined to advise families not to take countryside holidays at Easter. Mr Brown rejected Tory calls for the deployment of the British army, although he confirmed that its "small veterinary resource" had been mobilised to help the 500 vets battling to contain the disease.
Despite public criticism by the Irish Government - and the renewed depiction of Britain as "the sick man of Europe" in sections of the European press - Mr Brown insisted: "It is not right to say we are not dealing with it correctly". Confirming he would seek private talks with Minister of State Mr Hugh Byrne ahead of next week's EU Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels, Mr Brown said: "The important thing is that we stick together. The whole of the European Union has a vested interest in eradicating this disease in Britain."
In an article in today's London Independent, Mr Byrne accused Mr Brown of being far too complacent. "Britain is now the leper of Europe," he said. "It is almost as if he has thought that if he closes his eyes and crosses his fingers, the whole nasty business will go away. It will not."
However, there is as yet no indication that Mr Blair is preparing to rethink his general election plans. To the contrary, the conviction has grown in the past 48 hours that he is determined to go to the country - if not the countryside - as always planned on May 3rd.