THIS year’s Budget began to unravel within minutes of the Chancellor sitting down. The focus now is rightly on the eye-watering debt levels and total failure to address our financial problems.

Locally, the Tees Valley was denied the opportunity to take part in the City Regions pilot project and our ports have had pleas for recently-introduced taxes to be reversed ignored, threatening thousands of jobs.

I was struck, however, by another spending cut. Uncovered by internet bloggers was a commitment to cutting £44m from animal disease surveillance.

I remember the foot-and-mouth and bluetongue outbreaks when the media was full of comment on the need for early detection and containment, yet this cut strikes at the heart of detection efforts.

Just as swine flu begins to dominate the nightly news our unlucky Chancellor is slashing the budget for monitoring animal disease.

When we next face an animal disease outbreak, I trust the national media will take note of the cuts made in the Budget. The severity of such outbreaks may be an act of God, but it will also be due to a lack of planning which may yet cost our rural economy and health dearly.

I would rather not rely on the luck of this Government any longer.

James Wharton, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Stockton South.