Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff has pledged to renew his campaign for a full public inquiry into the foot and mouth outbreak if the final report from the "Lessons Learned" team is not hard hitting and comprehensive.

Speaking after meeting members of the inquiry team, Mr Luff said Dr Iain Anderson, the chairman, and his colleagues seemed genuinely open-minded and determined to produce a useful report.

He said: "I still believe that a full public inquiry would have been a better way to proceed, apart from anything else, six months is a ridiculously short time to be given to inquire into something so complex."

Mr Luff emphasised to the team his concerns about the way in which the burial site at Throckmorton was identified, the local population dealt with, the consequences for property values and the long-term environmental issues.

He asked the team to look at local outbreaks carefully since, he said, in too many cases it was now clear there was no outbreak and the contiguous culls, successfully resisted, would have been a scandalous waste of animal life and money. One of his other main points was the chaos in the Livestock Disposal scheme which he said caused so much animal suffering and so much distress to local farmers who were being attacked for not doing anything to help animals they were powerless to assist.