THE way has been cleared for a European Union inquiry into foot and mouth.

A cross-party committee of the European Parliament will spend up to a year studying the way the disease spread in Britain and other European nations and consider whether the outbreak could have been handled better and how to prepare for any future problems.

The British Government has indicated it will co-operate with the inquiry which has been pushed by Conservative Euro MPs. One of them, Robert Goodwill from Terrington, said: "People deserve to know the truth out this catastrophic outbreak."

Ryedale MP John Greenway said the big question for the Brussels inquiry would be whether ministers knew about the foot and mouth epidemic in advance of news of the first case being made public last February.

He added: "I think any really detailed scrutiny will unearth the fact that they did."

Updated: 09:10 Thursday, January 31, 2002