The Lib Dems set their sights on the countryside vote on Friday, claiming to be the party of rural Britain.

Charles Kennedy said the Lib Dems would give the countryside a £100 million boost through an emergency compensation fund for farmers.

Kennedy said the Lib Dems would also deliver rate relief to small businesses affected by the foot and mouth crisis.

He said: "Rural affairs is essential both to the broad swathes of constituencies the Lib Dems currently hold."

The Lib Dem leader spent Friday in Devon where he will saw first-hand the problems affecting rural areas.

His comments followed a day in which no new foot and mouth cases were discovered.

The development was seen as fresh evidence that the foot and mouth crisis was well under control.

The majority of the Lib Dems' 47 seats are in rural Britain, with those in the south west being hit hard by the foot and mouth epidemic.