Energy Supplies: Brexit Minister Lord Frost criticises France over dispute

Brexit Minister Lord Frost has hit back at France after it again threatened to cut the UK off from energy supplies over a fishing licences wrangle.

He told a Conservative Party conference fringe event: “I do think it is important to keep things in proportion.

“We have granted 98% of the licence applications from EU boats to fish in our waters according to the different criteria in the trade and co-operation agreement (TCA) so we do not accept that we are not abiding by that agreement.

“We have been extremely generous and the French focusing in on a small category of boats and claiming we have behaved unreasonably I think is not really a fair reflection of the efforts we have made.

“We would have liked a different sort of fisheries deal out of the TCA. We get control of our waters eventually but we agreed this deal and we are implementing in good faith, so I think it is unreasonable to suggest we are not.

“If there is a reaction from France, they will have to persuade others in the EU to go along with it, and it does need to be proportionate.”

Lord Frost continued: “For all the frustrations of the last 18 months, and particularly since January, I don’t think we as a country have resorted to those sort of threats.

“I know people get frustrated with the way we behave but we have not made those kinds of direct threats to our neighbours.

“The vaccine export ban earlier this year is another area where the EU resorts to legalism, it resorts to threats quite quickly and I just think that is not how we should behave.

“We don’t, and I don’t see why our neighbours feel they have to.”