Emmanuel Macron vows to keep Britain trapped in customs union if we don’t let EU into our waters after Brexit
Spain's PM Pedro Sanchez also warned he could scupper the withdrawal agreement
FRANCE and Spain turned the screw on Theresa May today as they vowed to exploit the Brexit deal to extract big concessions on fishing and Gibraltar.
Emmanuel Macron hinted the EU will resort to the Irish backstop and make Britain stay in the customs union if he doesn't secure access to our waters.
And Pedro Sanchez vowed to use the "position of strength" he has achieved to push for further control over the Rock's affairs.
The pair's remarks will cause major problems for the PM following a summit at which EU leaders had gone to great pains to support her deal.
Mr Macron said the withdrawal agreement, which states a fisheries pact should be done by July 2020, provides "a lever" over the UK.
He said: "We as 27 have a clear position on fair competition, on fish, on the subject of the EU’s regulatory autonomy.
"That forms part of our lines for the future relationship talks. It is a lever, because it is in our mutual interest to have this future relationship.
"I can’t imagine that the desire of Theresa May or her supporters is to remain for the long term in a customs union, but to define a proper future relationship which resolves this problem."
Eurocrats inserted the July 2020 date into the deal to coincide with a decision on whether the backstop will need to be used.
They acted after member states reacted angrily to Michel Barnier agreeing to a UK-wide customs solution to the backstop without provisions on fishing.
But the demand almost certainly means any fisheries agreement will have to be sealed long before talks on a wider trade deal are complete.
Tory MP Marcus Fysh said the remarks would prove the final straw for many Eurosceptic backbenchers.
He fumed: "This is what happens when you capitulate and give up your country's sovereignty. Not done yet, as sensible MPs won't let it happen."
Capitals outlined their aims for the trade talks in a document which says a fishing deal "should build on existing reciprocal access and quota shares".
It adds: "Such an agreement should be negotiated well before the end of the transition period.
In a double whammy for the PM, Mr Sanchez also rubbed salt into the wound over Gibraltar by claiming she had granted him new leverage over its future.
Mrs May had to issue a public declaration that any EU-UK trade deal won't automatically cover the Rock to stop him boycotting the summit.
British officials insisted that the document only confirmed a long-standing position and would not affect the status of Gibraltar.
The Sun Says
IT took EU leaders just THIRTY-EIGHT minutes to sign off the Brexit deal.
That tells you just how bad it is for Britain.
It is not a diplomatic compromise. It’s a surrender.
We cannot recommend this deal to our readers, nor to MPs.
Yesterday in Brussels, Donald Tusk and others lined up to express how sad they were about our departure.
But the solemn mask slipped within hours.
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez is already using the deal to threaten us over Gibraltar.
The puffed-up and pompous Emmanuel Macron has made it clear that the appalling “backstop” will be used to nobble our fishing communities. Does that make us an “independent coastal state”, as the PM says? Hardly.
And there are reports that the EU will cut us out of defence and foreign policy decisions.
What more will we give up over the next few years, with EU leaders trapping us in the Customs Union unless we bend over backwards for them?
How can we possibly sign up to a deal that relies on them showing good faith?
The Prime Minister is right when she says that politicians have a responsibility to honour the referendum vote.
But she is patronising voters when she says that people are bored of Brexit.
They don’t want any old deal just to get it done. We are defining what this country looks like for decades to come. Let’s get it right.
If the PM is worried we’re fed up now, that’s nothing compared to the anger that will come Westminster’s way if — despite a historic vote for independence and sovereignty — we are left merely a puppet on Brussels’ strings.
We will be forever competing with one arm tied behind our back.
It’s true the PM has “won” the power to set our own immigration policy, and it should be one that welcomes the world’s best and brightest, rather than one based on quotas and limits.
That means an end to the ludicrous “hundreds of thousands” target that the PM — and only the PM — still thinks is a good idea.
But we would get those powers with a clean break, too, as well as an end to the vast sums we send to the EU each year — and we wouldn’t be coughing up a “divorce bill” for the privilege.
The PM must call Brussels’ bluff. At the very least, the backstop must be revisited, or the next stage of negotiations will simply be an exercise in finding different ways to wave a white flag.
Brexit is NOT a damage limitation exercise, but a golden opportunity to build a bigger, global Britain.
With this deal, that chance is slipping through our fingers.
But Mr Sanchez said: "Right now Spain has many guarantees and great strength to negotiate the question of Gibraltar with the UK.
"We have obtained a guaranteed statement from the Council endorsed by the UK. That is a very significant political achievement.
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"It places us in a position of strength. The idea of the government is to solve once and for all a conflict that has existed for more than 300 years."
The EU issued a separate statement on the Rock yesterday setting out its position on future trade negotiations.
But British ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, hit back at claims the agreement could boost Spanish claims of sovereignty over Gibraltar.
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