France backed down in fishing row after Jersey offer ‘to move things forward’

France backed down on its threats to clog up British trade and ban UK fishers from its ports after Jersey offered to speed up approval for “five or six” new fishing vessels in its waters.

Ian Gorst, Jersey’s minister for external affairs, said the offer from his administration, which was mirrored by the UK government over an undisclosed number of boats, had proven to be a “good way to move things forward”.

Paris had set a deadline of midnight on Monday by which it demanded further licences for its vessels in UK and Jersey’s coastal waters, only for Emmanuel Macron to announce he would shelve his government’s plans after last-ditch talks called by the European Commission.

“It’s not while we’re negotiating that we’re going to impose sanctions,” the French president had told reporters in Glasgow, where he was attending Cop26.

The boats expected to have their approval expedited, having been initially rejected, are replacements for old vessels that had a track record of having fished in the coastal waters of the UK and Jersey.

Gorst said that as the talks had gone on in Paris, there also appeared to have been a realisation that triggering the threats would lead to “entrenched positions”.

“There are some issues around replacement vessels that we can sort out earlier than we might have envisaged, that is for both us and the UK,” he said.

“I think that would be quite a good way to move things forward and allow more time. Of the vessels that the EU is asking us to reconsider, at least a handful, about five or six, are replacement vessels …

“The French have taken the view that it is better to try to deal with the individual vessels than trigger countermeasures whereby everybody will become entrenched.”

Asked about the issue by reporters at the Cop26 summit, Boris Johnson indicated the UK had not changed its position and played down the issue’s importance. The prime said: “We are working very, very closely with our French friends and partners on the things that matter most to the people of the world, and that is tackling climate change and reducing CO2.

“By comparison with that hugely important issue, the ones you mentioned are really vanishingly unimportant, but since you ask about whether the UK has changed its position on the fishing issue, the answer is no.”

The French government has said that half of the vessels applying to fish in UK and Jersey waters have been rejected unfairly and in breach of the trade and cooperation agreement.

The UK and Jersey have said they will issue licences only to boats that meet the test of being able to prove that they have previously operated in their coastal waters.

Jersey has so far rejected 55 applicants, of which “five or six” are replacement boats. Gorst said his government was willing to examine any new evidence “boat by boat” for the rest after a request by the commission.

French minister for the seas, Annick Girardin, told the National Assembly that France wanted clarity from the UK by Tuesday evening on how 14 vessels could secure licences in its waters. She also called for swift agreement on the issue of replacement boats and requested that Jersey agree to reconsider its position on a further 13 boats whose applications to fish in the Channel Island’s waters had been rejected.

The row until now has been dominated by a dispute over the type of evidence that is acceptable, with France insistent that a set of data known as Sacrois, which provides a rough approximation of a vessel’s movements should be enough. Gorst said there appeared to be a “softening” from Paris on that point, however.

Talks will continue between officials for the next 48 hours. The UK cabinet minister Lord Frost is to meet Clément Beaune, the French minister for European affairs, in Paris on Thursday.

Gorst said the developments had created “breathing space” but admitted to concerns that relations could again turn sour if France was unable to offer extra evidence to secure permits beyond the “handful” of replacement vessels.

“We have been here before,” he said. “What we would ask about that is, if they have not been able to provide evidence to date it would seem strange to say the least that they could provide evidence for the 55 in the course of the next three days. We believe the evidence has got to be provable.”

Macron, who faces an election in six months’ time, is being urged across the political spectrum in France to take a tough line with the UK.

“I’m all for giving it an extra 48 hours but we’ll have to be very tough indeed with the British at that point,” centre-right presidential candidate Xavier Bertrand told France 2 television.

Earlier on Tuesday, UK environment secretary, George Eustice, had claimed France had retreated from threats of immediate measures because it “looked more closely at the evidence”.

“We just very much welcome the fact that France has stepped back from that course of action. And of course we continue to have dialogue if there are additional vessels that qualify,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Gorst said his government supported the comments from the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who had threatened tit-for-tat sanctions through the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement against France if it imposed sanctions on UK and Jersey boats.

A Downing Street spokesman said the talks taking place were on individual licence applications, rather than “the underlying approach”.

“No new licences were issued to French vessels over recent days,” the spokesman added.