Nick Harvey says:

I despair of living in a no blame culture. It beggars belief that the latest Foot and Mouth outbreak occurred as a result of poor maintenance at the Pirbright Lab and yet no one is to be held to account.

This impacted not only on our local farmers, but also the livestock markets, hauliers and retailers to the tune of almost £50 million, all for the sake of repairs that should have cost £50,000.

Last Friday the Health and Safety Executive issued their findings which indicate that waste water containing the live virus leaked out and contaminated the surrounding soil at Pirbright. Defra knew of the poor state of the drains four years ago and yet it needed an outbreak like this to bring things to a head.

Once again we have the Government telling us that it was an accident, a failure of the system but not one individual. Secretary of State Hilary Benn has made it clear that no officials will face disciplinary proceedings. I for one find this frankly inexcusable.

The integrity of the labs up and down the country which handle infectious diseases is now to be reviewed, but the worry is that it is too little too late.