HAGGIS-loving Europeans are struggling to get their hands on the Scottish national dish due to Brexit, the SNP claim.

According to the party's agriculture and rural affairs spokesman Dave Doogan MP, the additional paperwork and administration since the UK left the EU is blocking exports of meat to the continent.

Mr Doogan, MP for Angus, said many people hoping to celebrate Burns Night in Europe are having to do so "haggis-free" and added that Scotland's food sector is being forced to pay the price for Brexit.

Haggis firm MacSween is thought to have tried to bypass the predicted problems by exporting more of its produce before Christmas, however the firm's managing director said it was still having "significant difficulties", reporting a drop in orders and packages being rejected at the border.

Other small meat firms and exports are also struggling, with concerns raised about shipments being stopped at EU borders and meat turning rancid while drivers wait for paperwork.

Exporter DH Foods claimed it had five loads worth of fresh pork stuck in Rotterdam for two weeks, rendering it rotten and inedible.

Mr Doogan said: " Burns Night is a special day in the calendar for people not just in Scotland but across the world. However, this year the Tory government's Brexit deal has put up barriers preventing many from being able to mark the occasion properly.

"With Scottish food producers facing a drop in orders and packages being rejected at the border due to export rules, many face a Haggis-free Burns supper.

"Our vital meat and food sectors are being forced to pay a heavy price through extra costs, paperwork and delays due to Brexit.

"Meat and food producers - small and large - across Scotland are really up against it with the barrage of Brexit bureaucracy causing huge financial and operational challenges. I urge people to support Scottish food and drink producers not just this Burns Night, but throughout the year.

"The Tory lies and broken promises on Brexit have been completely exposed as farmers, producers and exporters find their meat rotting at the border due to trading barriers with Europe, the world's largest single market."

It comes after fish exporters and fishermen threatened to dump piles of rotting fish at Downing Street due to the issues exporting fresh seafood to Europe.

Many were struggling to get their fish out of Larkhall, the massive chilled warehouse where smaller batches of seafood are sorted and loaded on to trucks together, and the volume of paperwork needed for each type of fish being exported was causing problems and delays.

Boris Johnson has set aside £23m to compensate exporters who have lost sales as a result of the Brexit chaos, which he has repeatedly described as "teething problems".

However, he said only those who can demonstrate they have lost "genuine business" would be able to apply for the fund.