NEW Europeans laws requiring every horse to have a £30 passport by the end of the year have been condemned as "crazy" by MP James Gray.

The Government has agreed to adopt Brussels legislation designed to prevent horses fed with dangerous medicines from entering the food chain.

And it has set a deadline of December 31, by which date the owner of every horse, pony and donkey must have applied for the document.

But Mr Gray, the Tory MP for North Wiltshire and the president of the Association of British Riding Schools, described the decision as "bureaucracy gone mad".

He said it was unnecessary because unlike in France, Germany and Belgium people in Britain did not eat horsemeat.

And he warned it would push up the costs faced by riding schools and pony clubs which simply wanted to offer people the opportunity to ride a horse.

Mr Gray said: "This is an absurd idea which will cost every horse owner a lot of money, especially the owners of riding schools.

"It will also be impossible to enforce because, as always, only the good people will get a passport. It is another example of the government's love of European legislation.

"The Government could have agreed to introduce a voluntary scheme, whereby anyone taking their horse to an abattoir would need a passport, but that was rejected."

Mr Gray said groups representing ordinary horse owners such as the Association of British Riding Schools were firmly opposed to the plan.

Caroline Gates who runs the Harris Croft Livery Yard in Bincknoll Lane, Wootton Bassett, said: "We have known about this possibly being brought in for some time. For owners of many horses, the costs for the new passport could be crippling.

"Currently we have many private owners who keep their horses here, and most of them just see it as another piece of paperwork and many are holding on for as long as possible to see if this legislation is even brought in."

Vicki Mace, of the Wickstead Farm Equestrian Centre near Highworth which is home to around 60 horses said: "This legislation shouldn't really apply in the UK. We love our horses, we don't eat them, and all this legislation is about whether these animals go into the food chain."

"They are supposed to cost £27 but then you have to call out a vet who inspects the horse, so it ends up costing closer to £50-£60 each horse. It just seems like more EU bureaucracy."

Alun Michael MP, the rural affairs minister, has insisted the passports are a vital safety measure and have the backing of most people in the horse industry.

A spokesman for the department of the environment said a voluntary scheme would not comply with EU law and would prevent the export of horses

The passports are expected to cost between £20 and £30, but Mr Gray said they ended up costing £70 in Germany.