Boris Johnson 'puzzled' over French threats amid post-Brexit fishing row

Boris Johnson has admitted he was "puzzled" to learn that Paris wanted Britain to be punished for leaving the European Union, amid a fractious row over post-Brexit fishing rights.

The Prime Minister was responding to a letter sent from the French prime minister Jean Castex to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, which stated that Britain must be shown that Brexit is "damaging".

Speaking on Sunday at the G20 summit in Rome, Mr Johnson said: "For the record, I must say I was puzzled to read a letter from the French prime minister explicitly asking for Britain to be punished for leaving the EU.

"I just have to say to everybody I don't believe that that is compatible either with the spirit or the letter of the Withdrawal Agreement or the Trade and Cooperation agreement, and that's probably all I'll say about that one."

His remarks came hours after he told Emmanuel Macron that France must “withdraw their threats” in the ongoing fishing row, which have included threatening to block British trawlers from docking in French ports and disrupting electricity supplies to Jersey.

The French threats followed anger in Paris over decisions by the UK and Jersey to deny fishing licences to dozens of French boats to access British waters. France has warned that it will take retaliatory action if the dispute is not resolved by Tuesday.

In his speech, Mr Johnson also rejected claims that he and Mr Macron had agreed to de-escalate the row at a face-to-face meeting on Sunday morning on the fringes of the G20 summit.

"On fish, I have got to tell you the position is unchanged," Mr Johnson said.

Reports emerged from the French government that London and Paris were on track to de-escalate the argument over fishing licences after the two leaders reached an agreement during their bilateral meeting.

A senior French official was quoted by Bloomberg as saying the two sides had agreed to try and work out their differences. But Downing Street hit back with a starkly contrasting account of the discussion.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson had used the meeting to personally stress “his deep concern over the rhetoric emanating from the French Government in recent days, including the suggestion by the French prime minister that the UK should be punished for leaving the EU”.

Mr Johnson “expressed his hope that the French government would de-escalate this rhetoric and withdraw their threats”, the spokesman added.

Asked about reports of French officials claiming that the bilateral meeting had led to a breakthrough on the fishing row, the Prime Minister’s spokesman made clear he did not recognise that account.

“I've seen some of the same reporting following that meeting. It will be for the French to decide whether they want to step away from the threats they've made in recent days about breaching the Brexit agreement,” he said.

“That will be a matter for them. Of course we would welcome that if they want to de-escalate the threats that they have made.”

The spokesman said French warnings that they would block access to some ports to British boats and increase checks on vessels crossing the Channel were a breach of the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, warned on Saturday that the UK was “actively considering” legal action to challenge France’s threats.

A formal readout of the meeting from the Élysée Palace said Mr Macron “indicated wanting to pursue the dialogue on the basis of requirements, seriousness and respect” and that he “recalled the necessary respect of commitments taken by the UK and EU in the Brexit Agreement”.

Paris added that the “two leaders agreed on holding discussions in the coming hours and days on fishing licences”.

However, Downing Street challenged the suggestion that further exchanges on the issue were planned between the two leaders. It is thought that standard technical discussions between officials may continue.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We stand ready to work with the French government and individual fishermen on further licences if they have the requisite evidence, but our position has not changed. So there's no further work from us.”

While Mr Johnson and Mr Macron were in talks on Sunday, a French minister declared on social media that France “stands ready” to implement those threats from Tuesday, the deadline that Paris has set for Britain to grant more fishing licences to its countrymen.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman retorted that the remarks by Clement Beaune, France's Europe minister, “would sound to be in contradiction to what the French readout is [from the leaders’ meeting]” that suggested an agreement had been reached.

'This is not a technical issue, it's a political choice'

Mr Beaune went further on Saturday, accusing Britain of making a “political choice” to “target” French fishermen by withholding 40 per cent of French “detailed requests” for fishing licences.

Downing Street said: “We don’t recognise the numbers issued by France on this. It is simply factual that we have not only rejected licences from France. We will consider any applications by EU member states fairly.”

Other elements of the Anglo-French bilateral meeting between Mr Johnson and Mr Macron appeared to have gone more smoothly.

No 10 said that the two leaders had each signalled they were looking forward to the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow, which starts on Sunday.

“They agreed [it] must be a decisive moment in the fight against climate change,” said the Prime Minister’s spokesman, adding that Mr Johnson had thanked Mr Macron for “France’s leadership and ongoing support to climate vulnerable countries”.

Downing Street also stressed that the fishing row is not the most pressing debacle straining London’s relations with the EU.

Britain considers the trade disruption sparked by the Northern Ireland Protocol the “most important issue currently affecting UK-EU relations”, the spokesman added.

“The Prime Minister stressed the need to urgently agree a solution in order to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, including on governance.”