The Scottish Government has spent over £100,000 on staff overtime to deal with the farm payment backlog.

The figures were released by rural economy and connectivity secretary Fergus Ewing in a parliamentary written answer to Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles.

From February 1 to April 30, the Scottish Government spent a total of £106,377 and 27 pence on overtime payments to civil servants who are dealing with the backlog of payments.

The pile of unprocessed claims built up after the the government's IT system - which cost £178m - failed to cope with the new payment system used to pay farmers' their Common Agricultural Policy payments.

Lib Dem MSP Rumbles called on Ewing to apologise to Scottish taxpayers for "wasting millions of pounds" of public money.

He said: "Our agricultural sector is in crisis and the Scottish Government are spending more than a thousand pounds a day in overtime to deliver farm support that is now months overdue.

"The hard working staff in the Rural Payments department are under extreme pressure to make up ground after the failure of the SNP's defunct £178million IT system.

"While it's quite correct that the minister has apologised to farmers for this catastrophic error he should now also apologise to the Scottish people for wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers money."

The Scottish Government responded to Rumbles' comments by insisting they keep a "tight rein" on costs so the taxpayer gets "the best value".

A Government spokesperson said: "As we have repeatedly made clear, the Scottish Government's focus remains 100 per cent on making as many full direct payments to as many Scottish farmers as possible by June 30 while keeping a tight rein on activity, costs and risks to secure the best value we can for the taxpayer.

"All eligible farmers should have already received a substantial payment from the Scottish Government worth 80% of their estimated entitlement, unless they chose to opt out of the nationally funded loan scheme.

"Before we can settle the balance of payments, we have to verify and check what is being claimed for each and every square metre of farmland in Scotland - a gargantuan administrative challenge involving an almost infinite combination of possibilities and literally millions and millions of complex calculations.

"Thanks to the relentless efforts of staff in area offices and our Edinburgh HQ, this process is nearing the very final stages of completion which will enable us to begin paying second instalments in the near future, injecting at least another £50m into Scotland's rural economy."

A report by government watchdog Audit Scotland warned the Scottish Government was in "high risk" of a multi-million pound fine from the European Union if it did not meet the final payment deadline of June 30.

The EU Commission announced last Monday that it would move the deadline back to October 15 as an "exceptional" intervention following lobbying by member states" and "regions" facing "difficulties" with their payments.