Farmers’ debt increased by more than £150million in the year when bungling officials failed to deliver crucial EU payments.
Shock new figures show a spike in agricultural arrears, with Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing due to update MSPs on the CAP payments debacle today.
Scottish Government statistics show farms had £2.2billion in outstanding debt at the end of the 2015/16 financial year – up from £2.03billion the year before.
Thousands of farmers have seen hundreds of millions of CAP payments delayed over the last year amid a costly IT foul-up by the SNP administration.
Mr Ewing is due to update MSPs on the situation today, with hundreds of farmers still yet to receive any cash.
Last night, Scottish Conservative shadow rural affairs secretary Peter Chapman renewed his calls for an inquiry into the debacle ahead of Mr Ewing’s statement.
The North East MSP branded the figures “very grim” – but Mr Ewing accused him of making “irresponsible claims”.
Mr Chapman said: “There’s no question that farmers the length and breadth of Scotland have been let down badly by the SNP.
“The rural economy was starved of hundreds of millions of pounds thanks to its mismanagement of vital CAP payments.
“Now we are seeing record debt levels, and it paints a very grim picture for the agricultural sector. There are many challenges across farming, not least volatile commodity prices.
“But when farmers needed the Scottish Government most, the SNP ministers failed them.”
The Liberal Democrats’ north-east member, Mike Rumbles, said the SNP have “singularly failed” to reassure farmers the delays in payments will not happen again.
He added: “This increase in debt underlines the challenges facing Scottish agriculture. It is no surprise that farmers have been forced to increase borrowing.
“The shambles over Common Agricultural Policy payments mean it would have been a surprise if debt had not spiked.”
But Mr Ewing hit back, claiming that “the only people creating uncertainty and risk for Scotland’s farmers are the Tories”.
He added: “Both of these opposition parties are making political points which are not borne out by the facts.
“The willingness of our banks to continue to lend to farm businesses should be seen as a sign of strength and optimism, not weakness, allowing farmers and crofters to make long term investment decisions.
“Their irresponsible claims – which are simply not backed up by the data – risk creating unnecessary worry and fear among Scotland’s farmers and crofters.”
