FARMING leaders revealed last night they are considering sueing the Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) for wrongly slaughtering thousands of animals in the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said it was taking advice on possible legal action against the ministry for damages over dozens of cases where they claim healthy livestock was unnecessarily slaughtered.

Beleaguered farmers across the region last night welcomed the union's move, which comes less than a month after Maff admitted that almost a third of "confirmed" foot-and-mouth cases in Britain had proved negative in laboratory tests.

It comes as another case of foot-and-mouth was confirmed in County Durham yesterday - at New Moor Farm, Walworth Gate, near Darlington. A herd of 465 cows are due to be slaughtered this morning.

John Archer, who runs the tenant farm with father Robert, said: "The whole slaughter policy of the Government is something we have struggled with.

"I don't think we want the responsibility to keep cattle again. I feel we have let them down this time and I don't think we can do it again."

Richard Betton, a Teesdale farmer and former chairman of North Riding and County Durham NFU, said: "You cannot condone incompetence and there has certainly been an extraordinary high degree of incompetence displayed by Maff at a Whitehall and regional level.

"They haven't learned from the knowledge that should have been gained in the last outbreak. I think this action would have the backing of the whole industry, because there is no doubt that a lot of animals have been slaughtered unnecessarily."

Maff is already facing separate legal actions from hundreds of farmers and rural businesses, and it is reported that a South-West legal firm had already sent letters to 700 farmers in Cumbria, Northumberland and North Yorkshire.

The NFU and legal firms are said to be focusing on cases such as the accidental slaughter of 1,200 animals at Otterburn Hall, near Settle, North Yorkshire, last month.

A spokeswoman for the NFU said last night: "There is no direct legal action planned at the moment, but there are areas where we are looking at the possibility.

"The NFU's reason for being is to look out for the interests of our members. And if they are in a position where they are out of pocket through no fault of their own, they would look to the NFU to see if there was any chance of getting compensation."

Maff refused to comment on the potential legal action. A spokesman said: "It wouldn't be appropriate to make any comment on something like this.

"If the NFU's lawyers have been in touch with Maff lawyers, it is for them to sort out. We are not going to start making comments on projected or possible legal actions."

Maff confirmed a further five new cases of foot-and-mouth as the latest surge of the outbreak continues in the area covering Skipton, Settle and Clitheroe - bringing the total there to 51.

Meanwhile a survey by the Confederation of British Industry said last night that the foot-and-mouth crisis had dealt a severe blow to Britain's tourist industry and the UK is facing a "decided slowdown".

Its quarterly survey of the service sector showed current trading, as well as optimism for the future, has fallen significantly.