Accounting error will see foot and mouth budget cut

The county council has been told to cut its budget for dealing with the bluetongue and foot and mouth outbreaks after an accounting foul-up.

Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards, which has been dealing with hundreds of calls since the outbreaks of the diseases, has been told to slash its budget by 10 per cent - about £8,000.

Council animal health teams across the UK had been promised funding totalling £9.77 million from Defra for the current financial year.

The money was promised under a funding arrangement set up specifically to prevent and control animal disease following the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001.