TENBURY'S MP Bill Wiggin has expressed his anger at the continued delay of payments to farmers.

Only a fraction of farmers in the Tenbury area are likely to receive vital annual subsidy payments by the end of March, despite assurances from the government.

Farmers in Scotland and Wales have already received their payments but most in England will have to wait until a crisis at the Rural Payments Agency is sorted out, says Mr Wiggin (pictured).

"The Single Farm Payment has been a complete disaster and has left England's hard-pressed farmers out of pocket.

"Our farmers are already taking on extra debts of £30 million just to survive while this mess continues and they will not be able to make any serious investments in their businesses," he said.

Mr Wiggin, shadow agriculture minister, owns a farm himself and claims many farmers are unable to make important business decisions as they are waiting for the payments.

"Until farmers receive their money, they cannot plan for the future," he said.

"While I understand the banking industry has generally been supportive and helpful towards farmers experiencing SFP delays, banks are not charities and many farmers are building up mountains of SFP debt and debt interest."

He added the government could have helped by giving farmers some much-needed interim payments to tide them over until the situation could be resolved.

"This new system has been rushed through and farmers have been left confused by entitlement statements that do not make sense," he added.

"I know exactly how many farmers are feeling as the RPA have made errors with my own SFP statement."

Fewer than 7% of the country's farmers have been paid the vital subsidy, despite assurances from the secretary of state Margaret Beckett that payments would be made by the end of March.