The National:

EMPTY supermarket shelvesgas shortages and a mass pig slaughter.

It seems Brexit isn’t going all that well.

Unless you’re Oliver Mundell, that is.

The Brexiteer Scottish Tory stuck to his guns during this week’s BBC Debate Night show, even if it meant repeatedly blasting his own foot.

The MSP, during a heated debate with pro-independence football pundit and National columnist Michael Stewart, showed what it takes to still believe in the Vote Leave project: a massive dose of delusion.

“Does he accept Brexit is not working?” Stewart asked.

“No I don’t accept that,” Mundell replied somewhat unconvincingly. “I think we’re in the early stages that’s come at a difficult point during a global pandemic.”

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Maybe the UK Government shouldn’t have dragged us out of the EU in the middle of it then, Oliver?

He continued: “We’re seeing serious disruption to the energy market around the world.”

But before he could try to claim that Britain wasn’t in an especially bad position due to Brexit, Stewart interjected: “Is there anywhere else that’s slaughtering pigs on a level that they are here?”

Mundell squirmed: “I, I don’t know is the answer to that question.”

Thankfully, there was someone on hand who could clear up his confusion.

James Withers, chief executive of ScotlandFood & Drink, replied: “No.”

Mundell stumbled on: “I’m sure he could answer the question for me, but what he won’t do, and what you won’t do and what so many people in our established political circles won’t do, is speak up for the million people in Scotland who voted for Brexit.”

He added: “That’s more people than elected Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister in 2016.”

If you’re having to rely on ridiculous comparisons like that, you’ve already lost the argument, as Twitter users were only too happy to point out.

One commented: “More people voted for independence than voted for Brexit. Hey this is easy.”

Another wrote: “Two different electorates so that comparison is meaningless. Have you nothing better than that, @olivermundell?”

Well played, Michael Stewart.