WE’LL HIT BACK IN FISH BATTLE
PM to confront Macron after UK skipper charged amid rights war
BORIS Johnson last night warned Britain could retaliate against France in the escalating row over fishing rights in the Channel.
We will take action. We will do what is necessary to ensure British interests
The PM also vowed to confront French President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 summit tomorrow.
He told reporters on the plane to Rome: “We will do whatever is necessary to ensure UK interests.”
Earlier, the British trawler skipper at the centre of the international row was charged by police.
Magistrates ordered the captain of the Cornelis to appear in court in Le Havre next year, accused of fishing illegally without the proper permit. He could face a £63,000 fine. The boat was still impounded in Le Havre last night. The crew accepted a bottle of Scotch and four Union Jack mugs from the UK press. One said: “We need all the help we can get.”
The skipper, who has not been named, said: “I still don’t know when we will be allowed to go home.”
Mr Johnson warned that the French may have breached the Brexit trade co-operation agreement by seizing the vessel.
He said: “We will stand by to take the appropriate action.
“British fishermen should be confident in going about their lawful business.”
But offering his counterpart an olive branch, Mr Johnson said: “France is one of our best, oldest, closest allies, friends and partners. The ties that unite us and bind us together are far stronger than the turbulence that currently exists. That’s what I’m going to say to Emmanuel, who is a friend.”
Earlier, Environment Secretary George Eustice took a hard line and said the UK could respond with tougher checks on French fishing vessels.
He said: “Two can play at the game. It’s always open to us to increase the enforcement we do on French vessels, to board more of them if that’s what they’re doing to our vessels.”
Asked about French Europe minister Clement Beaune’s claim that the only language Britain understands is “the language of force”, Mr Eustice said: “That is completely inflammatory.”
He also suggested Mr Macron’s difficult re-election challenge in the spring may be “a factor” in the row.
In Le Havre, the authorities insisted the Cornelis – owned by Scottish firm Macduff Shellfish – had been fishing illegally without the correct permit.
Its haul was thrown overboard, while her skipper spoke to an examining magistrate. The crew was also visited by Paris-based officials from the British embassy.
Gendarmes fined a second, unidentified British boat on Wednesday. Her skipper was dealt with for initially refusing police permission to board but then left to return to the UK. Brexit minister Lord Frost warned the row could widen, saying that Britain would carry out “rigorous checks” on all EU fishing boats in UK waters if France blocked British vessels from French ports.
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BORIS JOHNSON PRIME MINISTER ON FIGHTING FRENCH IN FISHING ROW