Prior to the French Revolution, Queen Marie Antoinette is reputed to have met cries for “bread” from starving Parisians with “no bread? Then let them eat cake!”

Last week at Westminster, where I led for the SNP in an urgent question on fresh-food shortages across the UK, Tory Minister Therese Coffey MP said that in previous years “people would be eating turnips right now, rather than lettuce and tomatoes”.

Jaws dropped.

Journalists tweeted photographs of shops in war-torn Ukraine packed with fresh fruit and vegetables whilst here tomatoes in particular are almost unobtainable. So now, are neeps!

“It’s the weather” retorted Ms Coffey desperately, digging herself an even bigger hole. Europe has no shortages and Europeans posted images and videos on social media of supermarkets filled with an array of fresh produce noticeably absent from UK shops.

The problem is obviously Brexit, which exacerbated issues impacting upon the UK’s farming and agricultural sector, including skills and labour shortages, rising import costs and the energy crisis.

Despite this, the UK Government claimed Britain has a “highly resilient food supply chain” secured through “strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes.” However, thousands of empty shelves belies that claim.

For months farmers warned UK Ministers that food shortages were a real risk because of rising costs and Brexit trade barriers, with the National Farmers Union saying the UK was “sleepwalking” into a food supply crisis as domestic production plummeted.

Without European Union (EU) freedom of movement, many domestic agricultural businesses are struggling to find workers to harvest their crops.

£60 million of ripe fruit and vegetables is now rotting in fields, while over 7,000 agricultural businesses have closed since 2019.

Rural Scotland has been acutely affected. The SNP Government proposed a Rural Visa Pilot Scheme to allow rural employers to recruit seasonal migrant workers, primarily for agriculture and hospitality work.

This was blocked by the Tory Government whose immigration system allegedly “works in the interest of the whole UK.”

This statement alone emphasises the Tories’ dismissal of the disproportionate impact labour shortages are having on Scotland.

Food producers also suffer from rising energy costs, with a lack of UK support and unfortunately, energy support is not devolved.

Growing tomatoes and cucumbers during winter need heat, and refrigeration units essential to year-round production must be kept cold.

Farmers also have to contend with soaring feed, fuel and fertiliser costs.

Inadequate financial assistance has forced many food producers to cease operations, resulting in greater reliance on imported produce to fill shelves, making our food security, inextricably linked to national security, more vulnerable.

Brexit continues to fail us. To avoid future shortages, it’s imperative that we re-join the EU.

Sadly, this won’t happen while the Tories and Labour continue to ignore the long-term damage Brexit has caused the UK and its people.

Independence for Scotland will reverse the damage caused by Brexit. We intend to re-join the EU, an inclusive partnership of trading nations which enjoys an abundance of fresh food.