WESTMORLAND and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has criticised a 'flawed' electronic farm subsidy payment system, saying 'there should have been a plan B' ready in place.

Welcoming the announcement that Defra will be reintroducing paper forms, Mr Farron said the online system failure has had a 'knock-on' effect on the workload of farmers and their agents, risking higher bills for advice.

He also said the problems caused by the £154m website had been worse in upland areas such as the Lakes where 'significant broadband issues' made online applications more difficult.

This comes during the busiest time of the year for farmers, and at a time when their incomes are under huge pressure.

The European Commission has now extended the deadline for applications by a month, to June 15.

Mr Farron said: "It’s all well and good bringing in a new application system but you have to make sure that it’s a computer system which works, is combined with support for unfamiliar users, and is accessible to those in rural areas with poor internet speeds and often no access to a computer at home. That didn’t happen this time around.

“That said, concerns have been raised with the Department for months now, and I have to question why they had not moved to ‘Plan B’ long before we got to this point.