FRANCE threatened to cut energy supplies to Britain and mocked the nation’s fuel crisis as the Brexit fishing row turned nasty.
Europe minister Clement Beaune vowed to exploit the supply chaos to try to win more access to UK waters.
President Emmanuel Macron is angry that the UK and Jersey denied licences to most French boats that applied.
French PM Jean Castex accused the PM of ripping up the Brexit deal and warned all cooperation with the UK is now under threat.
He fumed: “Britain does not respect its own signature. This cannot be tolerated.”
Mr Beaune said “patience” with the UK is reaching its “clear limits” and accused No 10 of oneupmanship.
He added: “They think they can live all by themselves and, what’s more, lash out at Europe.
“And because that’s not working they raise the stakes and become aggressive.”
Asked how Paris could retaliate he said the UK and Jersey especially “depend” on energy links with the continent.
And he told angry French fishermen they should “look at what’s happening in Britain” with the petrol pump crisis.
But he admitted France may have to act alone as its calls for an EU response have gone unheeded.
Ministers dismissed Mr Beaune’s “empty” sabre rattling and said turning off the lights would permanently harm cross-Channel relations.
No10, meanwhile, said it rejected licence applications only of boat owners with no records to show they fished UK waters before Brexit.
Militant French fishermen have threatened to blockade Calais and stop the flow of goods to and from Britain in the run-up to Christmas.
