The first farmer hit by foot and mouth in the Bradford area has condemned Government proposals to clamp down on spending on disinfecting farms.

Richard Sutcliffe, of Bobby Green Farm, Queensbury, who lost his herd of 133 cows to the outbreak, branded the idea stupid.

He said: "If the process is not done properly there is no telling how bad it's going to get.

"You can't disinfect enough. If the Government cuts back now then the job is going to be prolonged. It's devastating enough already."

And David Airey of Newbridge Farm, Sutton, a member of the national Hill Farmers' Group, said: "This is very bad news. How are they going to stop it? I don't believe the Government is bothered. It will just make the whole job last longer."

Prime Minister Tony Blair made his move amid fears that the total bill may top £800 million.

It is believed he is calling for secondary disinfecting of farms to be temporarily halted.

A memo issued by the Government's co-ordination centre set up to tackle the disease revealed that the PM personally demanded a check on "unacceptable" spending, after discovering that costs were running as much as ten times as high as on affected farms elsewhere in Europe.

The memo said that Mr Blair had vetoed further spending until the financial implications had been assessed.

He is considering setting a ceiling on each farm or even making the farmers pay for the disinfecting process.

A National Farmers Union spokesman said: "It applies to the disinfecting process after the cull and before re-stocking. I gather that process has been put on hold for a week. We are not happy."

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today: "Before new disinfecting work is commissioned, the Government wants a thorough review of the costs."

She stressed the review applied to the secondary bio-security programme following the preliminary disinfecting which occurs at the time of the cull.

"It applies to the secondary clean-up to stop the infection and before the farm is restocked. The Government has not been required to pay for that, but has been doing so."

It is understood that the average cost of disinfecting farms in England and Wales is £104,000 and the estimated cost of the whole programme more than £800 million.

Almost 9,000 farms have so far been hit by foot and mouth.

l Lord Whitty, the food chain minister, was due to make an announcement today about tougher bio-security measures which could involve disinfecting agricultural vehicles on the road.