NICOLA Sturgeon has said the appointment of a minister for food supplies by the UK Government shows how “catastrophic” the Brexit process has become.

She said such a situation – which has arisen for the first time since the Second World War – should be “a source of shame” for the Conservative Party.

Her comments during First Minister’s Questions came after it emerged Theresa May has appointed David Rutley MP as the parliamentary under secretary of state for food and animal welfare amid concerns over food supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit and the possibility of rationing being re-introduced.

Rutley was handed the role at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) earlier in September, with his responsibilities including EU exit readiness and the “food chain”.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay told the Holyrood chamber the UK Government has “quietly appointed a minister for the protection of food supplies – the first time this has happened since World War Two”.

She asked: “Does the First Minister agree that when you are contemplating rationing it’s time to stop this Brexit madness?”

The First Minister responded: “I think this is news, actually, that would have made most people across the UK really stop in their tracks.

“The Tory stewardship of Brexit and the UK as a whole is now proving so catastrophic that they’ve had to appoint a minister for food supplies, which is the first time there’s been such a post held since World War Two.

“How has it come to this situation? It’s shameful and should be a source of shame for a long time to come to every single member of the Conservative Party.”

The SNP leader said she hoped food rationing does not happen, and hit out at the Tory hard line Brexiteers including the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson and former Brexit secretary David Davis, who quit the Cabinet over May’s Chequers plan.

“I certainly agree with the question, that things are becoming so shambolic that it is time to draw a halt to this Brexit catastrophe,” said the First Minister.

“Let me tell you this, if there ever does come a day when there’s food rationing in this country because of a Tory Brexit, perhaps the first people who should be bearing the burden of that are Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, David Davis, Michael Gove, all of these people who perpetrated a dishonesty on the people of this country. Let’s see how they enjoy their Brexit bonanza.”

Meanwhile, a leaked document revealed yesterday that European Union officials are to step up no-deal Brexit preparations due to increased “uncertainty” over whether a deal can pass through the House of Commons.

It emerged EU ambassadors have discussed possible mini-deals to keep aircraft flying, medicine supplies and ports moving in the event of the UK crashing out of the bloc.

A restricted agenda, seen by The Times, states: “Preparedness work has to intensify in the months ahead at national as well as EU level as uncertainty remains about the outcome of the negotiations and the ratification of a possible deal.”

The talks will reportedly focus on using the legal basis of Article 50 exit talks to cushion a no deal when it becomes clear that negotiations are stalling and that time will run out before Brexit day in March next year.

The meeting of ambassadors on the continent comes after experts supported the First Minister call for extending the timetable for EU withdrawal. Earlier this week the Fraser of Allander Institute think tank, at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, insisted an orderly transition as the UK leaves the bloc is “vital”.