GOVERNMENT vets are to be given tough new powers to slaughter animals suspected of having foot-and-mouth.

Farming Minister Elliot Morley said more than 100 farmers took the Government to court to stop vets carrying out contiguous stock culls.

But while this court action was taking place, he said, the disease was allowed to spread.

The new powers, included in the Animal Health (Amendment) Bill, stop the Government having to get court orders to allow vets on to farms to slaughter animals.

But Worcestershire NFU chairman Richard Jordan was sceptical.

"I'm surprised at how draconian this new Bill appears to be," he said.

Wrongly diagnosed

"It almost seems an abuse of power.

"I don't think the timing of these measures are very helpful - there are still lots of enquiries being held about animal diseases. I don't think enough time has been spent considering the Bill's implications."

Mr Jordan emphasised it was sometimes hard to confirm whether a farm was infected by foot-and-mouth and feared premises could be wrongly diagnosed without measures in place to stop an incorrect cull.

The Bill, which will become law early next year, also gives Ministers the power to reduce the level of compensation paid to farmers with "poor biosecurity" arrangements.

They will get only 75 per cent of the money they would normally receive.