THERE were six new confirmed cases of foot and mouth over the weekend in the North of England and, today, worried DEFRA vets were testing samples taken from two farms almost 200 miles away in Leicestershire, a county free of the disease for four months.

Of the confirmed outbreaks, two were in the hotspot around Hexham, Northumberland, and four in Cumbria, the nation's worst hit county. There, angry farmers are calling for the sacking of DEFRA officials who, they say, have failed to tackle the problem despite five months of effort.