COVID-19 of course remains the biggest story in the country and the world.

As we continue the race between the virus and the vaccine, it’s important that we stay safe and take precautions.

Please follow the guidelines for the area you’re in and please take the opportunity for a vaccine when it’s offered to you. There are sites being set up all over the country for people over 40 who haven’t received their first dose yet. No appointment required so please get your jag as soon as you can.

The response to the virus has been the greatest challenge governments have had to deal with in recent years and coverage of the pandemic has, rightfully, been the most prominent things that the news discusses. For the UK however, there has been an additional massive (and unnecessary) challenge that we’ve been facing, and that is Brexit.

While the average person might not have felt any impact from Brexit yet, some have already done so in a significant way, while they were also dealing with the pandemic. There are the ongoing problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol. Boris Johnson promised people there would be no border but that was a promise which he could not and did not deliver.

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What is the Australia deal and why are farmers worried?

We’ve discussed businesses which mainly conduct a lot of their work with EU countries and which are now losing sales and drowning in paperwork –paperwork that the Prime Minister promised they would not have to deal with.

Just yesterday, we found out that the UKs exports to the EU have dropped by almost half in the past three months. The amount of money in trade lost is already obscene, and it’s only going to get worse. My fellow SNP MP Drew Hendry put it best: “Brexit has already cost Scotland billions of pounds – and analysis shows it will continue to hit our economy, cutting Scotland’s GDP by up to £9 billion by 2030 compared to EU membership.

“Our food and drink industry has already suffered – fishing communities, farmers, and businesses across Scotland losing millions of pounds in trade.”

That is what has happened so far, but the problems are mounting. In less that two weeks, thousands of EU citizens resident in Scotland face a cliff-edge in the shape of the deadline for applying for settled status. Even people who have applied and haven’t yet received response from the Home Office could overnight find themselves losing their access to healthcare and their right to work.

The SNP have been calling on the UK Government to extend the deadline and change the system but, as with the furlough scheme and the Universal Credit uplift, the Tories seem willing to leave people in limbo and facing massive challenges in their day-to-day lives.

The other problem we face is that our international trade is now negotiated for us by Tories we didn’t vote for. The UK Government gleefully announced that it has negotiated a trade deal with Australia. Indeed, the Prime Minister called the deal a “new dawn” and “historic”.

It would be wonderful if those things were true, but we haven’t seen it. The Government has thus far refused to show us the full text of the agreement. The deal was met with less excitement than it was delivered with. Farmers are worried about being undercut on price by Australian farmers who are not held to the same standards as Scottish farmers. The National Farmers’ Union Scotland described the deal in principle as “setting a dangerous precedent”.

The First Minister challenged Boris Johnson to put the deal before Parliament for scrutiny by MPs. Thus far, however, the little detail we do have has come from the Australian government, not the Westminster one.

​READ MORE: WATCH: Liz Truss scolded over 'contempt for Scottish agriculture' in trade deals

As with everything else it does, the UK Government was excited to share the headlines but disappear when it comes to discussing the detail. Perhaps losing a seat they’ve held since the 1970s in the Chesham and Amersham by-election will make them realise they can’t keep treating voters with contempt, but I doubt it.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. When the pandemic is behind us, we will have the chance to choose differently. To choose being an independent country in the EU that trades with our neighbours while maintaining the high quality of goods that we expect. That treats our farmers and fisherman with respect and doesn’t sell them out to appease a right-wing reactionary mob.

Ultimately, we do not yet know just how damaging this trade deal will be for Scotland, but given this UK Government’s track record, I hope Scotland doesn’t hang about to find out.