THE Jersey fishing stand-off and the UK’s relationship with its neighbours was the main issue raised by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.

The Daily Express

Jayne Adye said there are now 1,659 foreign vessels licensed to fish in the United Kingdom’s waters.

“The Prime Minister has had great electoral success through his messaging of ‘Brexit being done’, combined with the vaccine rollout,” she said. “However, if the Conservatives want to stay in power beyond the next General Election and keep these new votes, promises of ‘Taking Back Control’ must actually be delivered upon, rather than simply being more empty rhetoric.”

She asked how the Government could claim to have taken back control of our waters with so many foreign vessels allowed to fish our waters.

“First of all we had the blockade of St Peter Port in Jersey and now more threats of a blockade in Calais,” she said. “The reality is the EU - and in particular the French - seem to believe they should be given free rein over another country’s land and sea. It is about time Boris Johnson got his act together. Instead of making vague announcements about his new White Paper on so-called ‘Levelling Up’, he should get on with placing the Bill in front of Parliament and stop simply talking about it.”

The Guardian

Marley Morris, associate director for migration, trade and communities at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the events of this week in Jersey proved Brexit was far from done.

“The standoff points to a broader challenge for the UK as it navigates its post-Brexit relationship with its European neighbours,” he said. “The withdrawal agreement and the UK-EU free trade deal set out a framework for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, but in many respects these leave crucial matters ambiguous and unsettled.

“This week’s events therefore highlight that in many respects the Brexit process has only just begun. After all, untangling decades worth of trade ties and regulatory harmonisation was never going to happen overnight.”

The Independent

The paper’s leader column said it might seem little has changed since the 1800s - with British ‘warships’ deployed to the Channel Islands and the French navy responding in kind.

“As with the North Sea more generally, all the way up to the Scottish shellfish trade, it is apparent that although the UK has indeed regained control over its exclusive maritime economic zone, it has spectacularly lost control of the markets in Europe to which it used to enjoy such easy access,” it said.

“Jersey and its fisherfolk may feel entitled to say which French vessels can now harvest the seas, but the French fisherfolk can blockade the island, the French government can switch off Jersey’s electricity supply, and the EU can retaliate by cutting UK access to the bloc’s financial services sector.

“Although only those from Jersey who had lived in the UK in the past 15 years got a vote in the referendum, it is still worth asking: is this the Brexit we voted for?”