Farmers' leaders in North Yorkshire today hit out at the continuing beef-on-the-bone ban after hopes of its imminent removal were dashed.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has refused to bow to pressure from Tory politicians, farmers and butchers to lift the ban immediately - promising only to say something 'reasonably soon'.

He had been expected to announce the end of the year-old ban yesterday during a visit to the Royal Smithfield Show.

Robert Hicks, National Farmers' Union branch secretary in Malton, said today: "The ongoing beef-on-the-bone ban is too ridiculous for words. It's farcical, and people can't believe that it's still in place.

"I don't know who the hell the Government are to think they know better. They should leave it up to individual people who are perfectly capable of making up their own minds whether to eat beef-on-the-bone."

Mr Hicks said Mr Brown's predecessor, Jack Cunningham, imposed the ban after being told of a one in a billion risk of people who consumed beef-on-the-bone getting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) - the human form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).

He said Government scientific advisers now felt the risk was even smaller.

"It's a continuing annoyance that the ban was imposed in the first place for no justification," Mr Hicks added.

Meanwhile, farming income for the UK is forecast to slump by a third this year, according to Government figures.

The UK Total Income From Farming (TIFF) is expected to fall by 33 per cent - 35 per cent in real terms - compared to 1997.

TIFF is the income to farmers, partners, directors, their spouses and family workers.

It has fallen by 63 per cent in real terms over the last two years.

Ben Gill, president of the National Farmers' Union, who farms near Easingwold, stressed farm gate prices have slumped while the price of goods in shops has risen in the last 11 years.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.