Nick Harvey MP says: ‘The failings of the Rural Payments Agency are well rehearsed, but their latest antics show they have now completely lost the plot.

‘It beggars belief that the RPA would waste public money, time and effort to issue farmers with remittance advices for 1p, but this is what they have done. I receive regular complaints about the Single Payment Scheme (SPS), but this is further evidence of the idiocy of the whole system.

‘It’s outrageous that the Environment Secretary who presided over the worst bureaucratic bungle in recent agricultural history, Margaret Beckett was promoted to Foreign Secretary. 

‘This failure to take responsibility for the immense hardship caused to rural areas is further proof that Labour is an urban party with urban concerns.

‘The cost effectiveness of the RPA and its ability to deliver remains a matter of major concern. It is time we cut red tape by simplifying the application processes and raising the minimum threshold for payments.’