THE TORY government's polemics against its fellow EU members over the beef export ban have had a recurring refrain. The decision must be removed from the political domain, where either ill will or commercial advantage tipped the balance against science.
Northern Ireland farmers may then well reflect ruefully, following Wednesday's Commons debate, that the British government should take its own advice. Both political dogma and fears of commercial advantage, it appears, have combined to stymie hopes in the North of a return to European markets.
The signal sent from the debate, Brussels, Commission sources fear, is that Britain has no intention of coming up with proposals for a regional lifting of the ban - or its equivalent - at least until Scotland is ready to benefit, too. That could be many months away.
This correspondent's assessment is that the situation is not as clear cut and that the British government does not yet know what it intends to do. There are signs of an unresolved struggle within the cabinet between Northern Ireland ministers and those either representing Scotland or with an ideological hang up against any regional approach. The latter see it, somehow, as a threat to the Union (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of course).
The Northern Ireland case is straightforward. The incidence of BSE in the province has been far lower, at 1,765 cases, than in Britain, and has been confined to 1,100, or 3 per cent, of herds. Unlike their counterparts in England the Northern farmers are far more dependent on exports, with 80 per cent of production formerly going to the rest of Europe and the rest of the UK.
Under the terms of the Florence agreement on the return of UK beef to the world markets, the British government will have to do a number of things: show that it is engaged seriously in the slaughter of animals over 30 months and their removal from the food chain, carry out a selective cull of some 80,000 younger at risk animals from the herds and age cohorts of infected animals, improve slaughtering standards, and put in place a system of tracing animals from farm to table.
In Northern Ireland's case, the 30 month cull is well under way with some 90,000 head still to be killed. Moreover, the North, unlike Scotland and the rest of the UK, also has a computer based tracing system that has been praised by EU inspectors.
But the selective cull has not started, in line with the decision taken by London in September to put off the cull in response to disputed "new" evidence that it was not scientifically justified. Yet in the North such a cull would only require to take out a maximum of 1,700 animals and could be carried out in two days.
The Ulster Farmers' Union is furious at the failure to implement Florence, insisting that the selective cull should be carried out immediately and that Britain should then present a plan to the Commission for the partial lifting of the ban.
That could be done on the basis of an agreement to allow the export of animals which met the Florence conditions and came from "certified herds", herds in which no incidence of BSE had been reported for five or six years. In the Northern Ireland case this would mean access to the world market for 97 per cent of herds.
London is talking to Brussels about just such a scheme for the whole of Britain, insisting, however, that it will not negotiate any special regional package. But if the certified herd scheme is approved and London just happened to start its national selective cull in Northern Ireland, Britain's fellow member states would be likely to lift the ban on 97 per cent of Northern herds.
The Secretary of State for Agriculture, Mr Douglas Hogg, could also save face by claiming that the lifting was only accidentally a regional move as the standards being set would also apply to the rest of the UK.
Enter, however, Mr Michael Forsyth, the Secretary of State for Scotland and one of the government's arch unionists.
Scotland's farmers, too, have a case for separate treatment from their English brothers. They, too, have seen far lower incidences of BSE and have been particularly badly affected by the loss of export markets for their specialist, grass fed Angus herds. But the land border with England and their lack of a proper system of tracing animals means that their case to the Council of Ministers for exemption from the ban is, at present, far weaker.
Now, it appears, having found a formula that ostensibly preserves the "all UK" approach, Scottish ministers are getting cold feet about the possibility that Northern beef will return to the markets first. They appear to be blocking moves to get an early proposal from Britain to the Commission which would in practice favour Northern Ireland.
Hence the missed opportunity on Wednesday to keep the Ulster Unionists on side.
The junior Minister for Agriculture, Mr Tony Baldry, winding up for the government in the Commons, insisted a selective cull had not been ruled out. But, he said, it would not be fair on the rest of the UK if it started in Northern Ireland first.
Not surprisingly the Ulster Farmers' Union does not see why Northern farmers should have to wait until others reach their standards of controls.
The shadow agriculture minister, Dr Gavin Strang, however, said it would make sense for Northern Ireland to lead the UK out of the beef ban.
Meanwhile, Europe watches with bewilderment. More than one Irish minister has said he would be sympathetic to a special case being made for Northern Ireland. The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, has said Britain would be pushing on an open door if it made such a case - not least because of the saving of £60,000 a day on Border security costs.
EU farm ministers return to Brussels on Monday. The opportunity would be there, Presidency and Commission sources say, for the British to take further soundings. Both Irish and Commission sources believe there is a clear, qualified majority in the Council of Ministers for a "regional" approach, or its equivalent, once the details are teased out.
But the proposal must come from London. And London appears to be a prisoner to politics.
