France delay fishing row sanctions on UK

Westminster is welcoming a decision by the French President to not push ahead with threats of punitive action against the UK in a row over fishing licences in British waters.

The French president had warned that Paris could block British boats from landing their catches in French ports and tighten customs checks from midnight in protest at what they claim is a refusal by the UK authorities to grant licences to French boats.

Last week, an Aberdeenshire firm's scallop trawler was detained by French authorities amid claims they were fishing there illegally.

Macduff Shellfish insisted they were fishing within the post-Brexit agreements.

Earlier this evening, reports said Mr Macron had said negotiations must continue before going ahead with sanctions.

A UK Government spokesperson said: "We welcome the French Government's announcement that they will not go ahead with implementing their proposed measures as planned tomorrow.

"The UK has set out its position clearly on these measures in recent days.

"As we have said consistently, we are ready to continue intensive discussions on fisheries, including considering any new evidence to support the remaining license applications.

"We welcome France's acknowledgement that in-depth discussions are needed to resolve the range of difficulties in the UK/EU relationship."

On Monday night, just hours ahead of the deadline set by Paris, the French president was reported to have told journalists at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow: "Since this afternoon, discussions have resumed on the basis of a proposal I made to prime minister (Boris) Johnson.

"The talks need to continue."

"My understanding is that the British were going to come back to us tomorrow with other proposals.

"All that will be worked on.

"We'll see where we are tomorrow at the end of the day, to see if things have really changed," he is reported to have said.

"My wish is that we can find a way out on all these issues."

Mr Macron and Mr Johnson met briefly as the French president arrived in Glasgow.

And officials from the two nations were involved in talks convened by the European Commission in Brussels.

Earlier, Downing Street said it had "robust" contingency plans in place if Mr Macron's government carried out threats to disrupt trade from midnight.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the UK would take legal action under the UK-EU Brexit trade deal, and a tit-for-tat retaliation to French action had not been ruled out.

The UK has granted licences to 98% of EU vessels which have requested permission to operate in British waters.

But the dispute centres on access for small boats, under 12 metres, wishing to fish in the UK six to 12 nautical mile zone.

The government in Paris was angry that the UK originally granted only 12 licences out of 47 bids for smaller vessels, a figure which has now risen to 18.

Only boats which can demonstrate they have fished in UK waters for one day in each of the years between 2012 and 2016 qualify for a licence.

The Elysee Palace had said that without movement from the UK Government, the retaliatory measures would come into force at midnight, the French news agency AFP reported.

A No 10 spokesman told reporters: "As you would expect, we have robust contingency plans in place.

"I'm not going to get into the detail of them here.

"It is the French that made these threats and we are continuing to call for them to step back from those threats."

Jersey, which has also been threatened with action by France, has issued 49 temporary licences and 113 permanent licences to French vessels.

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