Mineral water from EU hit with import curbs after Brussels banned UK shellfish

MINERAL water from Europe has been hit with new import curbs by Boris Johnson after Brussels banned our shellfish.

Evian, Perrier, San Pellegrino and others will have to apply for permits to stay on our supermarket shelves.

Bottled water from the Continent will face new red tape and could even be banned if it does not meet our standards.

It came as Angela Merkel urged Brussels to find “pragmatic solutions” to the ongoing Northern Ireland sausage war.

Speaking after talks with the PM at Chequers, the German leader said she is “optimistic” of a deal to keep British bangers moving. But as tensions over Belfast eased, new cross-Channel “water wars” threatened to erupt.

Ministers are furious with the Eurocrats’ hardline stance over shutting out UK mussels, oysters and clams for export.

Whitehall sources said they were looking at “where we can leverage in other areas” to make the bloc see sense.

Mineral water sales to Britain are big money earners for France and Italy in particular. The bloc exports £100million a year to us.

When Britain was bound by EU rules, bottled water produced in Europe was automatically approved for sale here.

But brands will need permission from food standards authorities across the UK when the new rules come into force in January.

A spokesman for No10 said yesterday: “We’ve worked with all the major suppliers to notify them of changes.”