IN ALL the hullabaloo of the pandemic, the election and the arguments about how many people can meet or hug, when and where, Brexit has slipped by without so much as a by-your-leave.

After an initial complication of paperwork and hold-ups, in some trades things are trundling along not very different than before.

The cost of importing has increased substantially but the value of Sterling has also increased, mitigating some of the losses.

Other businesses have fared worse. Export of fresh farm foods and seafood has suffered a heavy impact which has not yet been resolved.

However, there is a glimmer of a silver lining: a stronger home market has emerged. With Covid restrictions, people are cooking more at home and searching out the best ingredients.

As the staycation market booms, UK visitors will look to experience the best of Scotland. Our hotels and restaurants have risen to the challenge and are spruced up ready to welcome us. Menus are brimming with Scottish produce, so much from East Lothian.

Seafood that was once exported to the continent is now freshly delivered direct from boat to table. Lobsters, langoustine and scallops as big as Tunnock’s tea cakes; Scotch beef marbled and aged, and new-season spring lamb; asparagus, spring greens, strawberries, the list is impressive.

No wonder so many European tourists want to visit. They appreciate us more than we do ourselves!

But with all this abundance of excellence, we have a guilty, shocking secret. One in four of our children has no access to this abundant food and are living in food poverty.

Foodbanks are everywhere, feeding families who are forced to queue for help. How can this be happening in our fertile country? What has gone wrong?

Therefore, whomever forms the next government must address the shame of our child poverty as the first priority. Only then can we ask to be recognised as the best small country in the world.