AGRICULTURE Minister Joyce Quin visited a Jobcentre which opened on Saturday to offer advice to workers affected by the crisis.

While in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, she spoke to farmer's wife Barbara Robinson, who works at the Jobcentre.

Together with husband Thomas, she had 300 sheep culled at their High Roddymoor Farm, near Crook, because they were next to an infected farm.

The couple remain undecided as to whether they will resume farming because of the cost of restocking.

Ms Quin said a relaxation of the restrictions on the movement of animals in parts of the country was a sign that the Government was winning the war against the disease.

She said: "It is an indication that in a number of areas we haven't seen any new outbreaks for a considerable period of time and therefore we hope that the disease is starting to be eradicated."

But the Government had learnt the lesson of the 1967 outbreak, she said, and that there was no room for complacency.

And she rejected comments made in a radio interview by Labour MP Tony Banks in which he compared Maff officials to Daleks, killing anything that moved.

"I repudiate that we are not interested in animal welfare in Maff," she said.

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