THE Government provoked an outcry last night after a minister claimed contractors disinfecting foot-and-mouth farms could be "taking taxpayers for a ride".

A temporary halt has been called to any new clean-up operations while the costs are investigated.

Speaking during a visit to parts of the North ravaged by the disease, Food Chain Minister Lord Whitty insisted the Government had been right to clamp down.

A review into the bill for the clean-up has been launched amid fears that the total cost of the operation could top £800m - with each infected farm costing an average of more than £100,000.

A memo issued by the Government's co-ordination centre, set up to tackle the disease, revealed that the Prime Minister personally demanded a check on spending.

Tony Blair discovered that costs were running as much as ten times as high as on affected farms elsewhere in Europe.

The memo said that Mr Blair had vetoed further spending until the financial implications had been assessed, and said a ceiling on spending for individual farms could not be ruled out.

Lord Whitty said: "We need to ensure that we are not taken for a ride by some of the contractors who are alleged to have been overcharging for the final cleaning.

"We have a responsibility to ensure money is well spent - but none of this undermines the urgency we have in stopping this disease.

"The costs coming in are substantially higher than we had estimated. This is not a comment on the management of the disease but we do need to look at our procedures."

Lord Whitty - who visited Thirsk and Northallerton, in North Yorkshire, to see the problems caused by foot-and-mouth - said he hoped new clean-up operations could be resumed within two weeks, once the charging problem had been addressed.

Farms where disinfecting has begun will have the work completed.

However, farmers reacted with anger to his comments and warned the clampdown could help spread the disease.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said hundreds of farmers had been left "in limbo", unable to plan re-stocking and the rebuilding of their businesses.

Almost 9,000 farms have been hit by the epidemic, which has ravaged large parts of North Yorkshire and the North-East.

A spokeswoman for the NFU in the North-East and North Yorkshire said: "The NFU wants the Government to reverse this decision immediately. It could increase the risks.

"This gives farmers no idea when they can start up again unless they do the procedures themselves, which they just can't afford to do."

Derek Watson, county chairman of the NFU in North Yorkshire, claimed farmers could lose their livelihoods because of Government incompetence.

"It is unbelievable they can even consider a spending cut - if premises remain dirty they will just increase the risk of spreading the disease," he said.

Last night, there were further fears that the crisis is threatening to spread to Britain's main pig production area in the Vale of York.

To combat this, an area of intensive biosecurity is to be created around the disease hotspot at Thirsk. Vehicles visiting the 2,700 farms in the area will have to be licensed.

Read more about the foot-and-mouth crisis here.