It was no surprise this week to see Humza Yousaf launch a broadside at Sir Keir Starmer over the Labour leader’s support for Brexit.

What was equally interesting was that Labour, instead of trying to set out why it now backs Brexit, chose to respond by way of deflection, challenging the Scottish First Minister for not supporting a rise in the North Sea windfall tax.

For sure, the SNP has not made life easy for itself when it has come to the North Sea. However, most of the problem for the SNP on this issue appears to be around it being drawn into comments which have made it look somewhat hostile to an oil and gas sector that provides such valuable employment and makes an important contribution to the overall economy. What Labour is essentially having a go at the SNP for this time is about Mr Yousaf being supportive of North Sea players.

However, returning to the subject of Brexit, and ignoring the “whataboutery”, Labour’s bemusing stance on Europe is probably the easiest win for the SNP when it comes to political point-scoring.

READ MORE: Ian McConnell: The big, burning Scottish income tax issues

It is not just that Sir Keir, who was one of the most vociferous critics of Brexit in late 2019, has done a U-turn.

There is also, crucially, the simple fact that Brexit has caused great damage to the economy and will continue to do so if the UK does not rejoin the single market.

As well as embracing Brexit, Labour has pledged it will not even move in a serious way to tackle the damage of this folly. It has ruled out rejoining the single market and customs union, seemingly with an eye on the “red wall” voters who backed Boris Johnson in the December 2019 General Election.

The problem is that it is these very voters who have been among the hardest hit by Brexit, as living standards have been hammered.

Mr Yousaf, of course, is at less risk politically from pointing his finger to highlight the “Emperor’s New Clothes” nature of the Tory hard Brexit.

However, the simple truth here is that Mr Yousaf can stand on a mountain of evidence which shows the huge damage from Brexit to justify his proclamation that the situation should be reversed.

Sir Keir, in contrast, has gone from wanting a second referendum on EU membership to embracing Brexit.

READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Labour unable to shed Tory clothes as British nationalism reigns

Mr Yousaf declared this week: “Brexit is yet another example of Scotland paying the price for the damaging policies of Westminster parties completely out of touch with Scotland’s values.”

He added: “Scotland did not vote for Brexit, yet Westminster has taken a sledgehammer to our economy - it’s hitting everything from our bills and our industries to our workforce and our students.

“However, like with so many issues, neither Labour or the Tories can offer Scotland an alternative. Another referendum on Brexit is just one of the many promises Keir Starmer has U-turned on."

Obviously, this is a statement from a politician. People will have different opinions on the “yet another example” and “many” quantifications in these remarks on Westminster policies and Sir Keir U-turns, although it is worth emphasising they are assertions that evidence could be advanced to support.

However, there is absolutely no doubt that Scotland is paying the price for Brexit, and that the nation did not vote for it. We should also bear in mind the UK as a whole is paying the price for the foolish departure from the European Union. Come to think of it, Sir Keir might want to reflect on that very fact. It might jog his memory about why he was so against Brexit previously.

It also seems fair to argue that the ruling Conservatives have taken a “sledgehammer” to Scotland’s economy with their hard Brexit. And, yes, this has hit “everything from our bills and our industries to our workforce and our students”.

READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Astonishing silence from Labour

The Tory hard Brexit has also taken a sledgehammer to the economy of the UK as a whole.

Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray, as well as criticising Mr Yousaf’s stance on the entirely unrelated subject of the windfall tax, declared: “The best way to improve our relationship with our European partners is to elect a Labour government that will fundamentally reset the relationship with our friends in the EU in the national interest.”

“Friends in the EU” might sound encouraging but what Labour’s leadership has set out as its ambitions with regards to improving the relationship amounts to mere tinkering around the edges.

All the while, the Brexit truth continues to make itself plain.

Earlier this month, experts at heavyweight investment bank Goldman Sachs declared the UK’s economic output had fallen short of that of similar countries by about 5% since the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Goldman economists James Moberly and Sven Jari Stehn highlight the major hit to the UK economy from the country’s hard exit from the EU in their analysis of the “structural and cyclical costs of Brexit”.

The Goldman economists find UK goods trade has “underperformed other advanced economies by around 15% since the referendum”.

They add that business investment has “been weak since 2016, falling notably short of the pre-referendum trend”.

And they declare: “Taken together, our analysis shows that lower EU immigration has likely played a role in exacerbating labour market tightness and thus contributed to the UK’s higher inflation rates since 2016.”

For the avoidance of doubt, all of this is a very big deal.

A survey of the UK food and drink sector published last week by accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael showed that, with Brexit, “half of businesses felt the same as they did 12 months ago, but a quarter of respondents are feeling less positive than they did last year”.

The survey, in which two-thirds of the respondents were Scottish, also revealed that “some commented that they have given up entirely on trying to export into the EU due to the costs and challenges of complying with regulations”.

Things on the Brexit front, in general, surely did not feel good 12 months ago, so it is a striking finding indeed that one-quarter of food and drink companies feel more negative about Brexit than they did a year earlier.

And it is utterly lamentable that any food and drink firm in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK is having to give up entirely on trying to export to the EU because of the loss of the hugely valuable frictionless trade Britain previously had with European Economic Area countries.

The survey showed, “while the majority of respondents cited the UK as their main market, 56% of businesses identified Europe as a key region”. It goes without saying that 56% is a big percentage. This obviously highlights the potential for this key sector of the Scottish economy in selling into European markets, and for food and drink companies in the UK in general.

Dampening such potential by triggering regulations that are so costly and challenging that some food and drink firms have given up on even trying to export to European markets - which is what the Tories have done with their hard Brexit - simply beggars belief.