Lord Frost and Clement Beaune ‘set out’ positions on fishing row in Paris talks

Brexit minister Lord Frost and France’s European Affairs minister Clement Beaune have reportedly “set out their positions and concerns” during a meeting in Paris this afternoon.

They “discussed the range of difficulties arising from the application of the agreements between the UK and the EU”, according to a spokesperson for the British government,

Lord Frost will hold critical talks with European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels on Friday.

This latest flashpoint in the two countries’ row over post Brexit fishing licenses was triggered in the early hours of last Thursday morning, when France detained a British trawler and verbally warned another off the coast of Le Havre.

France has complained that its fishermen have only been granted with half the licences to fish in UK waters that they are entitled to under the Brexit agreement.

In September the UK and the Jersey refused dozens of French fishing licences.

The British government said it has granted licenses to fishing vessels with an evidenced history of operating in its waters prior to the UK’s exit from the EU.