RED tape is putting farming in a straitjacket, says the new chairman of the Yorkshire branch of the Country Land and Business Association.

In his first annual report, Mr Michael Willoughby hit out at both the Government and the European Union over increasing amounts of red tape.

"The agricultural industry, especially, is being locked ever harder into a straitjacket of operational restraint," he said. "I deeply resent this as there is usually little or no justification, plus additional costs for us to bear and no extra reward or compensation."

Mr Willoughby, of The Estate Office, Birdsall, near Malton, farms 7,000 acres and believes there should have been a proper public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

"It will be interesting to hear what the European Union inquiry has to say about our Government's conduct of affairs.

"If there were ever to be another outbreak - it is hard to say there won't be with so much meat being freely and illegally imported - there had better be better contingency planning."

He tells members, in the report, that the Curry Report on the Future of Food and Farming was "mildly encouraging albeit not solving farming's income shortage. Until commodity prices and a more favourable exchange rate alter, I don't see any wonderful panacea for all."

Mr Willoughby adds: "I regret that the report paid no attention to the large picture of world trade, tariffs, taxes and quotas that so affect on farm profitability."

The annual meeting of the Yorkshire branch is being held on Monday, June 10, at Nostell Priory, near Wakefield. The CLA's vice-president, David Fursdon, will address it.

The Priory, which is owned by the National Trust, is still the home of Lord and Lady St Oswald, who continue to own the surrounding estate