The Scottish Government has come under fire for spending more than £6million on staff overtime when building its troubled farm payments IT system.
The extent of the overtime bill was revealed by Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing in a letter to Holyrood’s rural economy and connectivity committee.
North-east Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles hit out at the overtime costs and said farmers could no longer trust government.
“These figures are staggering and lay bare the cost of this botched IT project,” said Mr Rumbles.
“The legacy of this shambles is businesses out of pocket and a breakdown of trust between farmers and the Scottish Government at a time when there is real uncertainty in the sector over Brexit.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Cap payments are an absolute priority for the Scottish Government, and our staff have been working relentlessly to pay as many farmers and crofters as quickly as possible – with more than £317million injected into the rural economy so far.”
