A CAUTIONARY note about UK political and economic uncertainty has become fairly standard issue with company results announcements since last year’s Brexit vote.

This week, political and economic uncertainty has been flagged by David Duffy, chief executive of CYBG, in a trading update from Clydesdale Bank’s parent company. And the uncertain economic environment was cited by Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr on Wednesday.

On Monday, banking giant HSBC said: “The General Election in June resulted in a minority government, which increases uncertainty as to the timing and outcome of the UK’s exit from the [European Union].”

Douglas Flint, the Glaswegian chairman of HSBC, observed: “The UK is…showing some signs of slower growth as the inflationary impacts of a weaker currency, Bank of England caution over consumer indebtedness and uncertainties over the EU exit negotiations constrain consumer and business confidence and spending.”

Of course, the weaker currency has arisen from the Brexit vote.

Mr Flint also declared: “The formidable challenge within Europe of negotiating both the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU and the basis of the future relationship will dominate political agendas for some time, crowding out time for other policy considerations.”

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney yesterday warned Brexit had dampened business investment and weighed on pay settlements in the UK.

He observed the “speed limit” of the UK economy had slowed, in a “very strong world”. Mr Carney said it was evident uncertainties about the UK’s eventual relationship with the EU were weighing on the decisions of some businesses.

The Conservatives, whether or not they actually are, always seem at pains to claim they are the party of business. So you would have thought they would have been devoting as much of their energies as possible towards alleviating the Brexit-related uncertainty that is weighing so heavily on businesses throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK, from the smallest firms to the largest stock market-listed groups.

Far from it though, with the latest ‘Conservatives Carry on Brexit’ scenes having surely ramped up the uncertainty and absurdity even further.

Last week, Chancellor Philip Hammond talked about a transition period of up to three years following Brexit, which is due to happen by March 2019. This would, he asserted, provide time “to put…new arrangements in place and move us on a steady path without cliff edges from where we are today to the new long-term relationship with the European Union”.

Businesses have warned repeatedly, for good reason, about the grave dangers of a “cliff-edge” Brexit, and highlighted the need for a transition period to mitigate the damage from leaving the EU. Mr Hammond’s comments seemed, as far as they went, to be broadly in tune with pleas from businesses in this context, although it is worth observing an extra three years might be nowhere near enough to sort out the mess created by the Brexit vote.

Amid the Brexit uncertainty, perhaps the only sure thing is that the Conservatives will continue to argue among themselves in this most British of farces. So, while Mr Hammond’s comments might have seemed to many like common sense and perhaps even the only option in the shambolic circumstances in which we find ourselves, Brexit fan and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox seems to prefer a very different path.

Mr Fox, who seems to favour the road out to the cliff edge, declared that unregulated free movement of labour after Brexit would “not keep faith” with the EU referendum result.

Into this confusion of mixed messages stepped Theresa May’s official spokesman, who declared: “The Prime Minister’s position on an implementation period is very clear and well-known. Free movement will end in March 2019.”

This certainly sounds like a cliff edge, particularly at a time when sectors ranging from information technology to fruit-growing are warning loudly about the damage they face if they cannot hire the workers they need from other EU countries.

Of course, many people from other EU countries are already leaving the workforce in Scotland and the rest of the UK to move elsewhere in the bloc, rather than waiting for the Carry On film to reach its calamitous conclusion. Who can blame them?

And those from other EU countries who are working here have already seen the value of their earnings fall in euro terms, given the weakness of the pound, another factor that will make the UK less attractive to them.

These two things aside, the UK’s future prosperity depends on continuing availability of workers from other EU countries. Scotland, given its weaker population trends, is particularly dependent on this.

However, every time you get even a hint that the UK Government is waking up to this reality, with the likes of Mr Hammond’s signal of a protracted transition period, it is quickly followed by the throwing of toys from the Brexiters’ pram.

The noise of these landing on the ground further unsettles huge numbers of businesses large and small, throughout the country.

Consumers, bearing the brunt of higher inflation with renewed falls in real wages and hit this week by a fuel price hike from British Gas, are also clearly unsettled. A survey published last week by pollster GfK showed a further plunge between June and July in consumers’ already very weak confidence about the general economic situation in the UK.

Businesses will be more inclined to invest, and consumers will be more likely to spend, if they feel they are on economic terra firma.

There is one image that seems most apposite at this juncture when it comes to the road ahead for the Brexiters’ Britain. It is Wile E Coyote running headlong towards that cliff edge, tunnel-visioned and unable to see the bigger picture.