The Scottish Government faces being fined for its failure to make farm subsidy payments on time after European Commission (EC) bosses refused to extend the deadline for ministers.

Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing confirmed in a written answer to Holyrood that the EC had indicated "it does not propose to offer an extension" for the payments, made as part of Europe's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Ewing has now called on the commission to reconsider and "keep open the possibility of an extension".

He also said the "precise amount of any late payment penalties" the Scottish Government would have to pay would not be known for "many months".

Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesman Mike Rumbles said the bill could be as much as £60m.

He said: "The fault here lies entirely with the Scottish Government and its colossal mismanagement of these payments which has left the country facing up to £60m in fines for late payment.

"Farmers have been left without the vital funds owed to them and the Cabinet secretary has admitted that he doesn't even know if the system will be fixed in time for next year's payments. That is woeful.

"The Cabinet secretary has been under fire for months. This news doesn't help his credibility, or that of the SNP government, one iota."

The Scottish Government made 90.4% of European subsidy payments due to farmers by the deadline of midnight on Friday, June 30, falling short of the target of 95%.

It was the second year in a row ministers were forced to ask the EC for an extension to the deadline after delays were caused by the introduction of a £178m IT system to administer the payments.

Mr Ewing said: "The Scottish Government wrote to the European Commission on June 21 to request an extension to the end-June deadline for CAP pillar one payments.

"The commission has responded to indicate that it does not propose to offer an extension. The request for an extension formed part of the Scottish Government's contingency planning for 2016 CAP pillar one payments.

"We will not know the precise amount of any late payment penalties that will be applied for many months to come because these are calculated at UK level in line with EC accounting cycles which, in this case, extend well into 2018."

He added if late payments were made between July 1 and October 15, penalties would only be applied if total expenditure exceeds that 5% limit.

"Recent good performance in making payments in Scotland during June and across the UK as a whole has significantly reduced the risk of late payments exceeding the 5% level," he said.

In answer to a separate written question, Mr Ewing said the Scottish Government expected all eligible CAP pillar one payments would be made by the end of August 2017.