A MINIMUM of £300m should be released by the government immediately as a rescue package for farms and businesses hit by foot-and-mouth.

Mr Anthony Bosanquet, national president of the Country Land and Business Association, made his appeal at a fringe meeting during the Labour Party conference.

He has called on the rural task force, of which he is a member, to demand at least £300m from the government.

Mr Bosanquet said it was a modest figure in comparison to the cost of damage caused without it.

He said £200m should go to expanding the business recovery fund operated through regional development agencies to help the hardest hit businesses; £30m was needed to convert rate deferment payments into rate relief for about 10,000 businesses and £70m was needed to support others such as farmers' markets and rural developments around market towns.

He was also concerned about the £120m-worth of deferred VAT and income tax.

If businesses were ever able to repay that tax, the business recovery fund had to be broadened so that it could help businesses for longer than the government had so far envisaged.

"No-one knows when the government intends calling in this debt," he said.