1.   Gill acknowledged Britain lacked the capacity to incinerate cattle carcasses at the rate demanded by the slaughter plan.

2.   London says it hoped to persuade the EU to revise the slaughter plan without a renewed confrontation.

3.   The British slaughter plan would involve mainly older milking cows considered most at risk from the fatal brain disorder.

4.   The new scientific evidence has led to calls in Britain for the slaughter plan to be abandoned.

5.   They have wide support in parliament which must approve the slaughter plan.

6.   Under the slaughter plan presented by Britain, milking animals will be destroyed when they reach the end of their productive lives.

7.   London agreed to the slaughter plan in June as a condition for the European Union gradually lifting the worldwide ban on British beef exports.

8.   The details of the British selective slaughter plan were finally submitted to Brussels late on Wednesday.