The evidence is all around us: life outside the single market is an utter disaster | Simon Jenkins

An island nation must trade with its nearest mainland, whatever our new Brexit opportunities minister claims

A massacre is occurring. More than 35,000 healthy British pigs have been slaughtered and buried on farms since September, with an estimated 200,000 languishing in a backlog.

The reason is that abattoirs lack the staff to process them, largely due to Britain's exit from the pan-European labour market. In October, the environment department offered 800 six-month visas for foreign butchers. But it insisted they go through its laborious scheme for seasonal workers: barely 100 turned up. Whitehall also refuses to curb imports of European pork - which now makes up 60% of the UK market and rising. To the National Pig Association, Brexit means buy from Europe.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist