Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
From: ...

Originally from the Telegraph http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/07/30/ufarm.xml

Farmers 'to defy ban'
(Filed: 30/07/2002)

Farmers are ready to defy Government controls on the movement of livestock, imposed in the aftermath of the foot and mouth crisis, a farmers' leader says.

The Government will announce this week that the tough controls – which prevent farmers moving any of their livestock for 20 days if they move any new animals on to their land – are staying.

But Robert Forster, chief executive of the National Beef Association, said he believes farmers will defy the ban, which he says is as bad as the poll tax or prohibition.

"The depth of the damage is more than most can contemplate. We know this and our advice to Defra has been that this rule is a bad one. Thatcher poll tax bad, US drink law prohibition bad – it just won't be obeyed," he said.

"If the rule is broken on a scale that we fear it might be, Defra vets will not get the movement controls they want and traceability may be disrupted.

"Faced with the realities of the real world this is a counterproductive measure that ultimately will have to be revised but not until it's done a lot of damage."