Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, responding to reports that a multimillion pound government IT system to process EU payments for farming has largely been abandoned, said:

“It’s good that the Government has finally accepted Labour’s call for a paper-based contingency but why has it taken them so long? We’ve known for weeks about the problems with the IT system while Ministers were burying their heads in the sand and pretending everything was fine.

“They’ve finally admitted to their incompetence at the last minute and caused chaos and confusion for hardworking farmers. The Government must now clearly explain what they’re doing to fix the IT system problems in the shortest time possible.”

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