FUNDING FOR FARM ANIMAL DISEASES

That this House believes that the increase in farm incomes of 25 per cent. last year justifies a reassessment of the free insurance scheme provided by taxpayers for farm animals; notes that no other industry enjoys free insurance; is alarmed that since 2002 taxpayers have paid £13 million for animals who died from bovine spongiform encephalopathy, £24 million for scrapie and £166 million for bovine tuberculosis; and urges the farming industry to escape the dependency victim culture and pay their own insurance premiums.