THE Government said yesterday there was no European ''masterplan'' for dealing with the outbreak of bird flu, which has struck seven EU countries.

France and the Netherlands have both requested the right to begin partial vaccination programmes of poultry - a move which requires EU-level agreement.

But Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett, who met EU agriculture ministers in Brussels yesterday, said the overwhelming view was that vaccination was not a cure, and could raise more difficulties.

She said: ''It is certainly not a simple answer. Vaccination does not necessarily stop the disease in its tracks.''

She said there was currently no vaccine available to counter the H5N1 strain - and treating poultry with a general vaccine might enable the virus to spread at a lower, less detectable level.

Meanwhile, Dr Freda Scott Park, president of the British Veterinary Association, said Britain's contingency plans in the event of an outbreak were ''very good''.

She said: ''The Government are working in partnership with the poultry industry and that means that they are seeking their advice on a daily, even hourly, basis, when the situation changes.''

But Brigadier Alex Birtwis-tle, who led the Army's response to the foot-and-mouth crisis five years ago, said he had ''no confidence'' that vital lessons had been learned.

He said: ''There was a perfectly good crisis management system in place last time, it just wasn't used. In any crisis, you have to identify, own and manage risks. I have no confidence in the future that we will do any better."