THE SNP Government has been forced to ask Brussels for more time to make EU farming payments, amid continued problems with a botched £178 million IT system.

The Scottish Tories accused Nicola Sturgeon of presiding over a “culture of secrecy”, after she repeatedly failed to answer direct questions on the subject at First Minister’s Questions.

The government has yet to process around 5,000 of 18,000 Scottish applications for 2016 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies, with just a week to the June 30 deadline.

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The SNP government missed the deadline last year because of IT failures, was forced to ask Brussels for an extension and fined around £5m for late payments.

At FMQs, Ruth Davidson asked Ms Sturgeon whether her government was asking for a similar extension this year, and whether farmers and crofters faced more money delays.

Ms Sturgeon said the government was aiming to make payments on time, and could offer farmers loans as a contingency measure, but did not say if an extension had been sought.

However European Commission sources later confirmed that on Tuesday, government officials had requested an extension from June 30 to October 15.

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This was in spite of Ms Sturgeon apologising to farmers in a speech at the start of 2017 for last year’s late payments, telling them: “We are determined not to repeat them.”

On Wednesday, the SNP minister for parliamentary business, Joe FitzPatrick, also told MSPs the government was working to improve its transparency.

Ms Davidson said: “Nicola Sturgeon and [Rural Economy Secretary] Fergus Ewing promised they would fix their broken farm payments system after last year’s debacle.

“Instead, we learn the SNP has again failed to deliver on time for Scotland’s rural economy - risking another huge fine and further delays for hard-pressed farmers and crofters.

“Instead of confronting this issue when I raised it with her, the First Minister tried to duck it.

"This sorry episode only confirms that the culture of secrecy and denial in the SNP government goes right to the top.”

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Audit Scotland has warned more delays could result in a £60m fine, although the Scottish Government strongly disputes this.

A Scottish Government source said Ms Sturgeon still hoped the CAP payments could be made in time, and had omitted the extension as she wanted to emphasise that effort.

Earlier, Ms Davidson asked Ms Sturgeon for a “yes or no answer” to the question of whether the government had asked Brussels for more time.

Ms Sturgeon said: "The Government is extremely focused, led by Fergus Ewing, on making sure that payments are made, and that in the meantime there is a loan scheme available for farmers to ensure that we are taking care of their cash flow issues.

"We will endeavour to make payments on time, and we will continue to discuss with the European Commission any contingency arrangements we consider are required."

Pressed on the issue three times by Ms Davidson, Ms Sturgeon said: "We have been dealing with a small number of known defects that have been holding up some claims and these are now being progressed. We are working to meet that deadline and we will continue to do so each and every day until that deadline."

Ms Davidson said: "Another promise broken, why should rural Scotland ever trust you again?"

Ms Sturgeon said: "We continue to deliver this scheme, and we continue to seek to deliver it by the deadlines. What we have done - which was a commitment I have directly to farmers - is put in place loan schemes so that farmers did get the cash that they depend on.

"So we will continue to deliver this scheme, we will continue to work hard to rectify any problems in the IT system and we will also continue to argue for the protection of CAP payments in the longer term."

A Brussels source said: “The European Commission has now received a request from the Scottish government to extend the payment deadline from 30 June to 15 October for direct payments. "This request will be considered within the terms of the legislation.

“In the meantime, the Commission encourages the Scottish authorities to accelerate the execution of payments before the 30 June deadline.”

LibDem MSP Mike Rumbles said: “This is an outrageous revelation.

“Despite being directly asked at FMQs the First Minister made no mention of the fact an extension had been applied for two days ago.

"Either the First Minister purposely decided to not to tell the Scottish Parliament or she had no clue what her ministers are up to. Either way questions need to be answered."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "We have repeatedly made clear our determination to make the vast majority of 2016 Pillar One payments by the end of the payment period next week and we are doing all we can to meet that goal.

"Officials have written to DG Agriculture and Rural Development in the European Commission to seek their agreement to extend the payment deadline – if necessary – from 30 June to 15 October for Pillar 1 payments, on the grounds of the acutely challenging delivery and implementation issues we face in Scotland. 

"This is simple prudence given the timescales involved.”