DEFRA is accused of casting the fishing industry adrift by failing to set out the Brexit hit facing food firms, the Sunday National can reveal.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was asked to show its sums on the cost to Scots seafood and agriculture as a paperwork mountain stalls freight and forces fishing firms to bin big money consignments that should have gone to the continent.

Angus MP Dave Doogan challenged the department to publish to Parliament any estimate Food and Rural Affairs Secretary George Eustice has made on “the additional cost to Scottish seafood and agricultural exporters per year of customs documentation and other non-tariff barriers to trade with the EU” under the newly-signed trade and co-operation agreement.

But Eustice’s team swerved the question and released a 300-word defence of the Brexit deal instead.

This came from Victoria Prentis, the Fisheries Minister who revealed she did not read the post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels when it was agreed because she had been busy organising a village nativity trail at the time.

The SNP says this suggests Defra “simply don’t know what the costs are and failed to undertake this vital work ahead of agreeing to the terms of the deal”.

READ MORE: UK Government slammed for treating Scottish fishing crisis 'like croquet'

Doogan, the party’s agriculture and rural affairs spokesperson at Westminster, said: “The non-answer from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs highlights yet again the breath-taking incompetence at the heart of this Tory UK Government.”

Answering Doogan’s question, Prentis said the Trade and Cooperation Agreement “delivers on the Government’s promise to take the UK out of the EU’s customs territory and to regain control of our borders”, adding: “We have always been clear that this means there will be new customs processes on goods being moved from GB into the EU and vice versa.”

It goes on to champion deals with Canada, Japan and Singapore.

But this week Scottish Fishing Federation head Elspeth Macdonald accused Boris Johnson of lying and said the sector faces “the worst of both worlds” as quotas fall short and exports are in chaos.

Doogan said: “It is nothing short of irresponsible that the UK Government has failed to set out what, if any, analysis it has made over the additional costs facing our exporters.

“We have already seen the dire warnings from industry leaders over the disruption to supplies facing our fishing communities alone.

READ MORE: Fishing crisis: How Brexit pushed Scottish industry into storm

“Far from securing a sea of opportunity, the Tory government has cast our vital sectors adrift.

“Scotland has been dragged out of the EU against our will leaving key elements of our economy exposed to a deep economic hit.”