AN ATTACK on the 20-day movement restrictions, which the Government has refused to ease, came from Skipton and Ripon MP, David Curry.

Mr Curry was guest speaker at the annual dinner which followed the BWMB conference.

He said the restriction was not only having a huge and serious impact on producers but, he claimed, it also created an absurd situation where, if there was a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth, less would be known about the movement of today's sheep than had been known last time.

On the sheep industry in general, he was concerned about the increasing imbalance between upland and lowland sheep farming.

He was also highly critical of the different way the national envelope had been implemented in England, compared to Scotland and Wales.

"People are constantly telling me we must have a level playing field in Europe, but what about a level playing field in the UK where we are seeing increasing disparity," he said.

Mr Curry was not a particular enthusiast for Sir Donald Curry's report on the future of farming and food.

He was not certain what value the farmer would get from the proposed broad and shallow new entry level scheme.

He also felt that when the Government spoke about the countryside and the public it tended to mean the lobbying organisations and pressure groups.

Mr Curry was due to meet Franz Fischler, EU farms commissioner, on Monday and would raise the need for community-wide quality control and assurance standards with him.

He also planned to raise it with Margaret Beckett, secretary of state at Defra, when she appeared before his select committee yesterday.

Mr Curry was critical of the lack of information at airports and ports as to what foodstuffs could not be brought into the country.

In conclusion, he congratulated the wool board on its work in providing a central marketing structure for all UK wool.

"You are the last of the marketing boards. I know that because I abolished all the others," he said. "I do not regret it as a matter of fact, but you have a particular role."