THE Archbishop of York, the Rt Rev David Hope, has joined in the growing chorus of national leaders calling for the postponement of a general election thought to be planned for May 3.

The Archbishop said that many rural people would be "disenfranchised" if the poll were held in the middle of the foot and mouth crisis – a call re-iterated yesterday by Mr William Hague, the leader of the opposition, in his Richmond, North Yorkshire, constituency.

Meanwhile, the argument continues over the pros and cons of a vaccination programme in areas hard hit by the disease. Agriculture minister Nick Brown is in Cumbria today hoping to persuade farmers to accept vaccination, a possibility which has split the agricultural industry down the middle.

Although widespread vaccination might act as a "firebreak" to prevent the spread of the disease, farms affected would lose their disease-free status, which would mean, amongst other things, that they would not be able to export their livestock abroad.

Vaccination was also discussed yesterday at a bruising meeting in Downing Street between the Prime Minister and Yorkshire farmer Ben Gill, President of the National Farmers' Union.

But the No 1 item on the agenda was the slaughter of animals within 24 hours of being diagnosed as victims of the disease and much quicker removal of carcasses from farms. This was taking up to six days early in the outbreak but has speeded up considerably since the army was called in.

The Downing Street meeting, according to an NFU statement today, resulted in a "determination to stick to the policy of no more than 24 hours between identification and slaughter of animals on farms with foot and mouth and 48 hours for neighbouring farms."

Emerging from a meeting, Ben Gill said he believed this strategy was now beginning to eat into the backlog of confirmed cases in many areas of the country. He added:

"There are some encouraging signs but we are still in a very, very serious situation and there are still major problems in Cumbria which must be tackled urgently."

"No firm decision has yet been taken on whether limited use of vaccination should be made but we are pressing for a decision to be taken as soon as possible so that farmers know where they stand."

Further developments include:

• Parliament last night debated the serious affects that adverse publicity abroad is having on rural business. It was reported that the German Agriculture Department had advised Germans not to visit and CNN television reports in America were described as "alarmist."

• The Country Landowners’ Association is advising farms and other rural businesses suffering serious financial difficulty to act immediately to construct tax and debt relief packages. The association has been negotiating at top level with banks, tax officials and other bodies to obtain relief for those in trouble. They point out that the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise have set up a joint helpline for those with tax and VAT problems: 0845 3000157.