OUR farmers have been badly let down by England's Rural Payments Agency, and they will be let down again this year.

Delays in making the single farm payment have caused many farmers financial difficulties. This has a knock-on effect for rural businesses. We know about the economics of scale, but we hear less about the inefficiencies of scale.

Like Wales and Scotland, an autonomous Wessex would have paid promptly.

ROBERT SPRATT, principal secretary, Wessex (Our Home) Party, Province of Bristol.