Breaking news: we’re hiring, says the notice in a pub window in our nearby town. Advertising for “summer superstars”, it has vacancies for a deputy manager, floor staff, runners and bar staff. A full house, you might say, and good luck with that.

It’s a similar story with shops, cafes, restaurants and supermarkets across the neighbourhood, where the shortage of staff makes it an employee’s fairground. Such is the demand that one cafe, a few doors down from the pub, recently announced it was willing to allow staff to split their shift in order to do the school run.

Desperation on the high street has never been so obvious. The reason? Need you ask. In an identity parade – Covid, mental health epidemic, poverty trap – the culprit stands out head and shoulders: Brexit. Its laws, regulations and restrictions have had a universally pernicious effect on businesses small and large.

Without an army of workers from Europe to take up seasonal and full-time jobs, many outfits are toiling. Opening hours and services are reduced and, in the worst cases, shutters closed forever.

Brexit has exacerbated staff shortages in numerous sectors (Image: free)

An optician interviewed by the BBC spoke of people sent to him by the Job Centre who admitted they did not want the post and were only attending the interview to prevent their benefits being cut. Consequently, unable to find the employees he needs, he can no longer run a six-day service.

From Devizes to Dingwall, people are smarting because of the consequences of Brexit. With its effects felt from fishing to financial services, all of us are poorer, and our children’s and........

© Herald Scotland