Malton Show will not go ahead this year because of the foot and mouth outbreak - and other shows in North Yorkshire are under threat.

The news came as another case of the disease was confirmed in the county, bringing the local tally to nine.

The decision to cancel the 116th Malton Show, due to take place at Scampston Park on June 28, was taken unanimously by the full show committee.

Show secretary Jennifer Bird said it was made now as schedules for the event were due to be sent out this week.

She added the news would be a great disappointment to many people, but it was the only appropriate decision to make.

"We don't know how long this foot and mouth outbreak is going to go on," she said. "We are just hoping for a bigger and better show next year."

The Malton Show is one of the biggest of its kind in the county and regularly attracts about 12,500 visitors.

It was cancelled in 1937 because of foot and mouth, but was not affected by the 1967 outbreak.

Meanwhile organisers of Ryedale Show, due to be held on July 31 at Welburn Park near Kirkbymoorside, say a decision about the event will be taken at the end of this month.

Show secretary Peter Woodall said: "We are hoping it won't be cancelled, but if things carry on they way they are we will have to cancel."

Organisers of the Farndale Show, which takes place on August 27, said the issue of whether the event should be cancelled would be discussed in two months.

But Heather Parry, marketing manager of the Great Yorkshire Show which is due to take place Harrogate from July 10 to 12, said: "At the moment we are still going ahead.

"We are reviewing the situation, but farmers have so little to look forward to at the moment, and we think this is something we can all look forward to and enjoy.

"So we are literally carrying on and just hope it's now peaked and is going to start going down."

The latest North Yorkshire outbreak is at West Farm, Danby Wiske, near Northallerton, and follows confirmation last week of foot and mouth at Park Hill Farm, also at Danby Wiske.

A total of 180 ewes and 164 dairy cattle will be slaughtered at West Farm.

Officials are trying to identify the possible source and spread of the infection.

The Ministry of Agriculture said there were now 990 confirmed cases of the disease in the UK, with the total number of animals either slaughtered or identified for slaughter standing at about 1,010,000.

It added reports showed 631,000 animals had been slaughtered - of which 192,000 remained to be disposed of - and 379,000 had yet to be slaughtered.

There are now 1,458 vets, 315 slaughtermen and 1,750 troops involved in the effort to get the disease under control.

The Government was today rushing through emergency legislation to postpone the local council elections.

The Elections Bill, delaying polling in the English county council elections until June 7, was due to complete all its Commons stages by the end of today.

It will then go to the House of Lords tomorrow and should finish its passage there on Monday.

The announcement by Tony Blair that he was postponing the local elections to June 7 was seen as a clear signal that he intended to call the General Election on that date as well.

Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo called on Mr Blair to announce today whether vaccination was to be used to slow the spread of foot-and-mouth.

Mr Yeo accused the Government of "dithering" throughout the crisis, with the result that it had become far larger than it needed to be.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy rejected calls for vaccination.

"I am not persuaded and I think that the basic position we are in at the moment is that the present policy of slaughter is probably the right one to pursue," he said.

Mr Kennedy called for the Treasury to release £100 million from its contingency reserve to provide immediate compensation for farmers suffering as a result of the outbreak.

Updated: 11:51 Wednesday, April 04, 2001