‘Five days that took Brexit to the brink’
An uplifting five-part tale of the power of British fishing to humiliate a French President
Will Sir Keir learn any lessons ahead of his ‘Great EU Reset Summit’ in two weeks’ time?
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025 and © the UK Fisheries Campaign 2025
The story of Macron’s threat to knock the UK’s lights out in a terrifying ultimatum
Ending in the French President’s embarrassing public defeat when he met his Waterloo
With less than two weeks before the start of Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘Great EU Reset Summit’, today the UK Fisheries Campaign and GB News, in association with Facts4EU and CIBUK, can begin to reveal just how close the UK came to a dramatic and total breakdown of normal and peaceful co-existence with its nearest neighbour, France, over a highly-charged five-day period in late 2021.
As bizarre as it may seem, the extreme set of events put in motion by the French against the British people was over a handful of fishing licences.
Following weeks of increasing French government antagonism and hostility over fishing licences post-Brexit, the French issued a 5-day ultimatum – one which could only have been authorised by President Macron in view of its seriousness – to obey its demands or face terrible consequences.
These consequences included lorry and shipping traffic from the UK being brought to an effective halt, with the second extreme measure being to cut off the electric power supplying the UK and the Channel Islands via undersea cables from France.
This is the first instalment of an exclusive and almost incredible five-part story of how this drama came about and how Sir Keir Starmer may wish to think long and hard before agreeing to discuss fishing in any way whatsoever at his ‘Great EU Reset’ Summit on 19 May.
‘Five days that took Brexit to the brink’ - Part I
It's September 2021, and Macron is still apoplectic over the UK's AUKUS submarine deal with Australia and the US
In two weeks, will Sir Kier's ‘Great EU Reset Summit’ give Macron the chance for payback?
A timely reminder of what the French have been like over fishing
On 19 May, Sir Keir’s ‘Great EU Reset Summit’ will start. It does so against a background of weeks of leaks about some EU leaders, notably President Macron of France, said to be demanding a UK surrender over extending the already disastrous EU-UK fishing deal.
The last time a major fishing dispute with President Macron happened was four years ago. For six weeks the behaviour and statements of the President and his Government became increasingly hostile and threatening.
As everyone knows, the UK did NOT take back control of its waters as promised. However, back in 2021 the United Kingdom won the particular battle we are relating, thanks to the steadfastness of Boris Johnson and his Brexit negotiator Lord David Frost. As the story unfolds, readers will become aware of just how significant this was.
In this short series we look back at those events of four years ago and ask:
“Will Sir Keir stand firm or will our waters be traded away under French threats?“
“He’s back…. and this time it’s ‘poissonal’”
What follows is the account of what happened the last time Macron threatened the United Kingdom
The story starts in September 2021 and we will take you on a journey through some tumultuous days which included some extraordinary threats from the French. Today’s report is just the beginning, so please keep checking back as the tale unravels.
We start in September 2021 and here were our headlines at the time….
'EU fishing bonanza – UK issues licences to 1,700 EU boats to fish in UK waters'
'And 117 of these can now sail up to 6 miles from the UK coast to take British fish'
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2021
Brexit was supposed to have delivered control of the UK’s territorial waters back to the United Kingdom. Official figures released on 29 Sept 2021 by the British Government showed just how shallow this promise turned out to be, thanks to the demands of the EU during the exit negotiations.
Between 01 January and late September 2021, almost 1,700 licences had been issued to EU27 fishing vessels to enter British waters (within 200 nautical miles). 117 of these were able to sail up to six miles from the United Kingdom’s shores to ply their trade, with more expected.
Of the 1,700 EU27 vessels, some were the notorious ‘EU factory ships’ which are alleged to cause major damage to fishing stocks and to the marine environment by ‘hoovering up’ everything from the sea bed. Readers can view our latest report on these EU factory ships here.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
Back in the Autumn of 2021
On 29 Sept 2021, 681 EU27 fishing vessels could enter UK waters and the percentages between the nations' fleets were as follows:
- FRANCE 44%
- Ireland 22%
- Netherlands 11%
- Denmark 7%
- Spain 5%
- Belgium 4%
- Germany 3%
- Portugal 3%
- Sweden 1%
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2021 - click to enlarge
British waters, still open to the EU27
From the “A La Garde de Dieu” to the “Zuidersee” (from Belgium), Facts4EU.Org had analysed the details of the 1,681 EU27 registered fishing vessels which had the right to enter the UK’s ‘Exclusive Economic Zone’ and UK territorial waters at that point, thanks to the agreements the Government was required to sign up to by the EU Commission.
A UK Government spokesperson said the previous day:
“The government has this year issued a large number of licences to EU vessels seeking to fish in our exclusive economic zone (12-200 nautical mile zone) and our territorial sea (6-12 nautical mile zone). Our approach has been reasonable and fully in line with our commitments in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).”
© Crown
Nevertheless, the French were still complaining, despite all of this
One of the many complaints made by President Macron and his government since Brexit was that the UK was deliberately ‘holding up’ the issuing of licences to French fishing boats to fish in British waters.
In reality, Facts4EU.Org’s analysis showed that 738 licences had been issued to French vessels in the previous nine months. This represented 44% of the entire EU27 total.
Only 35 small vessels from the entire EU27 fleet had been refused licences – and this was only in relation to the 6-12 nautical miles of territorial waters off the British coast. The reason was that these vessels were unable to prove they had been fishing that close to the UK’s coastline while the UK was still a member of the EU. If they had provided the appropriate paperwork, they too would have been granted licences.
[ Sources: UK Dept for the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) | UK Marine Management Organisation ]
Some days later, we published again, as the French began to become more heated
The date is now 03 October 2021 and here were our headlines….
'Revealed: Macron threatens UK but the facts show UK’s generosity to France'
'French have [had] more UK fishing licences than all continental EU countries COMBINED'
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2021
France had UK licences for FOUR TIMES the tonnage of UK’s ENTIRE Coastal and Offshore fleets
Above we showed how President Macron’s government was threatening the UK over fishing rights, claiming the UK was not issuing licences when the opposite was the case. He was also attempting to persuade all other EU countries to join him.
Back in September 2021, the numbers of licences granted were as we published. Before we carry on with the story, we will briefly jump ahead to the present day to show the current level of licensing in 2025.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
Currently - in the Spring of 2025
UK licences given to the French compared to other EU countries’ fishing fleets, May 2025
- France has been given UK licences which total more than the next 3 EU countries combined
- The French now have over 2½ times Spain’s number
- They have almost five times as many UK fishing licences as the Dutch
- They have nearly eight times as many as the Danish
- Almost 12 times as many as the Belgians
- And over 18 times as many as the Germans
© The UK Fisheries Campaign 2025 - click to enlarge
As can be seen, the numbers of licences per EU country has changed. We predicted this would happen as a result of the UK Government allowing EU companies to buy up UK boats (with their quotas) and French owners who had never really fished in UK waters (but now had licences to do so as a result of the UK Government's leniency) selling their boats.
We can look at the French fleet from a different perspective
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
The total tonnage of the French fishing fleet
- France has UK licences for boats with five times the tonnage of the Royal Navy’s coastal & offshore fleet
- France’s fishing fleet, by tonnage, is bigger than all the Royal Navy’s Destroyers combined
- It is bigger than all the Royal Navy’s Frigates combined
© The UK Fisheries Campaign 2025 - click to enlarge
Going back to October 2021...
At this point only a tiny fraction of the total of licence applications had NOT yet been approved. This was because the handful of French vessels involved were unable to give any proof that they had been fishing in UK waters pre-Brexit, despite the Government granting them an extension to do so. Indeed, the Government has been even more generous. Nine months after Brexit, the Marine Management Organisation said that it would continue to consider applications.
Before we continue, a word about the UK Fisheries Campaign
Facts4EU has been providing research material to our friends at the UK Fisheries Campaign (UKFish.Org) who are doing excellent work in highlighting the need to improve the lot of our fishermen and the coastal communities they operate from. They are working closely with elements of the media and with influential politicians to ensure that our fishing industry isn't once again sold down the river.
Please do take a look at their website and support them if you can.
What is the relevance of all of this to Sir Keir Starmer today?
At this point in our story, the French had been sabre-rattling but few were prepared for what was about to come. In 2021 feelings in the EU were still running very high over the apparent and very public slight that had been handed to the EU when the great British public were finally asked if they wished to remain a member of the bloc and politely declined.
The loss of face and of reputation - to say nothing of the loss of the UK's billions in annual subsidies which allowed the EU to operate as it did - were felt very deeply across the Channel. Perhaps this was nowhere felt more strongly than amongst the French ruling classes. For decades they had seen their old adversary humbled and mistreated on a regular basis by the majority of the EU members. At the same time, France had been enjoying Top Table status with Germany as de facto rulers of 'Europe'.
Out of nowhere it seemed, (given that 'le tout Europe' believed as the British Establishment did that the Referendum could not possibly be lost), the UK was no longer going to be a second-class bit-player in the soap opera that Brussels had become.
There are some interesting parallels and also differences between the events
In 2021 President Macron was able to create a fantastical story of grievance that the UK was somehow behaving improperly over licences for French boats. On this very flimsy basis he was able to create a feeling of an injustice being done. Even then, the evidence he could produce was so inconsequential he struggled to create any sense of 'EU unity' amongst other EU leaders, but it played well at home.
In 2025 he has no such grounds and his tactic is to remind the other 26 that they have some powerful levers to pull, including the defence treaty Sir Keir seemingly wants, as well as other vital issues such as the shared energy deal which expires on the same day as the fishing deal.
With his popularity in France at rock-bottom, the economy on ever-shakier ground, and the possibility of losing his fourth Prime Minister in less than two years, picking a common foe for the French people to unite in opposing will deflect attention away from domestic troubles and play to the popular house.
COMING UP....
In the next instalment of this story we take readers through the month of October 2021, leading up to
One of the most extraordinary diplomatic explosions in the history of French foreign diplomacy.
An earthquake of that magnitude will be difficult for Macron to achieve this time, but if Sir Keir Starmer and his team are not fully aware and prepared after what happened last time then the results of this upcoming Summit could be disastrous on a great many levels.
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[ Sources: UK Marine Management Organisation | MoD ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
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