The Prime Minister’s official spokesman criticised the move as “unjustified” and said Emmanuel Macron’s government was being spoken to about the issue.
French fisheries have accused the Government of being slow in issuing post-Brexit licences for EU fisheries to catch in UK waters.
They claim 80 percent of vessels from the northern Hauts-de-France region have not yet been granted licences.
As many as 80 fishermen set off flares on Boulogne docks and created barricades to block trucks seeking to transport fish to the area’s seafood processing centre.
Reacting, a No10 official said this afternoon: “We take an evidenced-based approach to licensing EU fishing vessels using the information that’s supplied to us by the European Commission.
“We do not recognise the figures being shared by the French fishing industry.
“We have issued licences to all vessels that have met the criteria and have provided the relevant information, so we consider the reaction to be unjustified.”
More to follow…
