UPLAND farmers across the region could be facing ruin because of the long delay in handing out the new Single Farm Payment.

Many have had no payout under the support schemes since October 2004 and hopes of payment by the end of this March have long faded.

And some of the poorest tenant farmers are now facing a double financial blow - with rents due at this time of year there is real concern that some will not be able to meet their obligations.

The Tory MP for the Vale of York, Anne McIntosh, has secured an adjournment debate on the issue in the Commons tomorrow.

She plans to press the Secretary of State of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett and her under-secretary Jim Knight on the state that farmers in North Yorkshire and across England and Wales are now in.

She claims the blame lies with the "incompetence" of the Rural Payments Agency.

"Jim Knight told me in the Chamber of the House of Commons that the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would pay the bulk of payments by the end of March and that in England they would be paying in full," she said.

"To date this has not happened and I must express my disappointment with the Rural Payments Agency in particular.

"I hope the replacement of their chief executive Johnston McNeill will expedite matters although restructuring of the department should not be used as an excuse for further delay."

The NFU's regional board chairman, Richard Betton, claimed the RPA had made a whole catalogue of mistakes.

"Somebody knew back in September they were not going to be able to deliver this and they have not been honest with the farming industry," he said.

"They could have paid something on account which would have helped people a bit. As it is farmers are being hit hard - and jobs are being out at risk."

He added: "I don't think Margaret Beckett or any of her senior civil servants had any idea of the complexity of the scheme and the difficulties of administering it."