The farm payments crisis was propelled to the top of the Scottish political agenda with calls from opposition leaders in Holyrood for the First Minister to step in and take charge.
The Scottish Conservatives and Liberal Democrats piled the pressure on Nicola Sturgeon at Thursday’s First Minister’s Questions over the failure of the Scottish Government’s £178 million IT system to process payments on schedule.
The defective system means 50% of farmers have still to receive a penny of EU money, and Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead has been unable to guarantee when producers will receive cash from other vital support schemes.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson called on Ms Sturgeon to step in and “take personal charge of leading rural Scotland out of this crisis”.
Ms Davidson said one of the reasons the SNP has been so slow to act was because it only affected rural Scotland.
“Had the IT system failure , which has cost the taxpayer an additional £75 million and left thousands of farmers severely out of pocket, been an urban problem in the central belt, the SNP ‘would be all over it’,” she added.
Ms Davidson’s calls were echoed by Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie who appealed to the First Minister to resolve the situation before it got any worse.
“The comments from Nicola Sturgeon that farming payments only need to be made by the end of June will have sent a chill down the spines of farmers and crofters across Scotland.
“Her complacency on the late payment of farming support is astonishing.”
Former NFU Scotland (NFUS) leader Jim Walker has already called for Mr Lochhead to resign and is due to make further demands for heads to roll, but yesterday current union leader Allan Bowie refused to follow his lead.
Speaking from France, where he is on holiday, Mr Bowie said it was for the First Minister or Parliament to decide on Mr Lochhead’s future.
He said: “We are still pushing to get the situation fixed. I struggle to see what would be achieved by Richard Lochhead going. It wouldn’t get money into bank accounts any quicker.”
Mr Bowie said the union had already spoken twice with the First Minister about the need for payments to be delivered. He added the union would be meeting Mr Lochhead in Edinburgh next Thursday.
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon insisted she had absolute confidence in Mr Lochhead, saying: “This is, obviously, an important and serious issue.
“We are continuing to do everything possible to get instalments out to as many farmers as we can by the end of March and to get the balance of payments out as soon as possible after that.”