MRS Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State at the newly created Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, was flying into the lion's den today with a visit to Gisburn and farmers in the so-called Settle-Clitheroe rectangle.

She arrives at a time of growing anger over the massive cull of contiguous farms in the area around Skipton where, some farmers claim, healthy animals have been put down without blood tests being taken to see if they were carrying the disease.

This was one of the main complaints of dozens of protestors who on Saturday staged a "moving blockade" of tractors, trucks and 4x4 vehicles which slowed traffic almost to a standstill on a route from Gisburn - a local DEFRA control centre - via Grassington and into Skipton.

There were no new cases reported in the Skipton area overnight after last week's disastrous outbreaks at Linton, near Grassington, but a new outbreak at Glaisdale was causing growing concern in the North York Moors National Park.