Major rejects fury over BSE cull `U-turn'

John Major yesterday ignored a storm of European protest over the Government's decision to abandon its undertaking to slaughter extra cattle, urging an end to "hysteria" over BSE.

Ministers decided on Thursday to shelve the deal agreed with other EU countries at the Florence summit in June, after Conservative MPs said they would not support the cull order in a Commons vote.

The Prime Minister, in his Huntingdon constituency, denied Britain had torn up the Florence deal: "It was perfectly clear within the Florence agreement that if new evidence arose, we had to consider that evidence. In this country, confidence has been restored a good deal more quickly than in many other countries in Europe, so I hope people can push aside some of the hysteria that we have heard."

Klaus Kinkel, the German Foreign Minister, said the decision was "not acceptable", and Klaus Hansch, president of the European Parliament, said it would be better for Britain to quit the EU altogether if it would not respect joint decisions. Mr Kinkel said: "The main priority is the health of the consumer. The ban on importing British cattle, beef and other products will remain in force."

Mr Hansch said: "If the British abandon the Union's internal solidarity, when they don't respect decisions taken together, then they do not belong in the Union."

Philippe Vasseur, the French Agriculture Minister, said: "The unilateral decision ... can only be met with perplexity by other European countries." Border controls to keep out British beef would be tightened, he added.

Irish reaction was equally robust. John Donnelly, president of the Irish Farmers Association, called the move "a major political blunder". It was "an absolute disgrace that Britain, which created the BSE problem, was deciding not to co-operate with the slaughter policy. The UK government seems to be playing politics with the livelihoods of farmers right across the EU."

At the Florence summit Britain agreed to slaughter an extra 147,000 younger cattle as part of a programme leading to the lifting of the ban on the export of British beef. As a result of the deal, Mr Major called off his campaign to use the British veto to block EU business.

Yesterday he denied the "beef war" had been in vain but appeared to accept Britain would have to start from square one to negotiate another deal to get the ban lifted.

The November target Mr Major set after Florence for the lifting of the ban now stands no chance of being met, and the European Commission expects it to last several years.

But EU officials held out an olive branch yesterday, saying they would consider lifting the ban on Britain's proven BSE-free, grass-fed herds, found mainly in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.