AN OFFICIAL inquiry into the Government's handling of the world's worst foot-and-mouth outbreak has ruled out routine vaccination of livestock to prevent another disaster.

A report into the outbreak, which cost the country £8bn, says vaccination should only be used as a last resort - after an outbreak has been detected.

The Lessons to be Learned Inquiry also criticised Government contingency plans which were in place before February 2000.

It said the impact of the crisis on tourism and the rural economy was not initially recognised and "large parts of the farming and wider rural community became mistrustful of government".

Critics of the chaotic response to last year's outbreak have called for widespread vaccination of livestock to prevent it ever happening again.

However, farmers are resisting the move. They say a vaccination scheme would cripple exports abroad.

The Government-appointed inquiry, chaired by Dr Iain Anderson, made 80 recommendations based on there being a "national strategy" to control a future animal health outbreak.

One recommendation was that burning animals on mass pyres should not be used.

More than 45,000 animal carcasses were dumped at the Inkerman site at Tow Law, County Durham, with villagers left feeling physically sick at the stench of rotting carcasses.

Other recommendations included keeping the 20-day standstill rule preventing livestock movement "pending a detailed risk assessment".

The report also recommended the Government set up a livestock tracking system using electronic tags to cover cattle, sheep and pigs, and the ban on feeding animals swill containing meat catering waste should continue.

Routine vaccination of healthy animals should be ruled out but emergency vaccination should "be an option available".

But on a question of whether the Army should have been deployed sooner, the report claimed there was "no obvious answer".

Last night, MPs, led by Richmond MP William Hague, demanded there be a full debate in Parliament on future contingency plans.

He said: "This report underlines the failure of the Government to get a grip on the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

"Those of us who witnessed this economic catastrophe want to see what plans will be in place to prevent it happening again and to ensure that real lessons are learned for the future."

Rob Simpson, North-East spokesman of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) said: "The crux of it is that we never want these mistakes to be repeated again, and in order for that to happen the Government has to put in sufficient resources to deal with any animal disease - not just foot-and-mouth - in the future."

He said it was too early to say whether or not farmers would continue their calls for a public inquiry into the disaster.

Peter Troy, chairman of the Darlington branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Basically, the Government should have responded quicker and there has been little consideration or practical help for rural small businesses - both during and after the crisis."

Read more about foot-and-mouth here.