A HAPPY New Year to all. Sadly, it’s not the start we’d have wished for, but we just need to persevere and it’s good that the vaccine rollout has commenced.

The auld year’s end, though, saw the Brexit transition period close and the UK’s new relationship with the EU, and indeed the world, commence. It was never going to be easy and it was always going to be worse than before. But it’s proven to be difficult for most and calamitous for many. The deal that Northern Ireland got, retaining some access, was denied Scotland.

Individuals have lost rights and travelling abroad has become far more complex. Things that we haven’t had to do for decades, whether worrying over visas or medical insurance, have returned. Even using your mobile phone could now prove costly.

For business, it’s even worse, especially here in the county with farming and food production. Complexities are nightmarish, with even the Scotch Whisky Association confessing they just don’t know what’s now required in some countries. If it’s hard for a big sector like that, pity the small trader who sold goods not just into the EU but even just into Ireland.

Fish and tatties have always been staple in the Scots diet but are also important in our export market, along with whisky. But they’ve been bitterly let down by the Tory Government. Seed potatoes were excluded from the deal struck with the EU yet are vital here. With steps now being taken to relax rules on genetically modified products, East Lothian is threatened.

Seafood is an even more flagrant sell-out. It’s both absurd and deeply damaging that local and Scottish business has been treated so badly. Inshore fisherman, as with those here in the county, were ignored from the start but all, and especially those selling abroad, now face huge challenges.

Even domestic pets haven’t been exempt, as the pet passports ending shows. What a mess this is and all predicated on lies and against the wishes of Scotland.