Brexit showdown looks to intensify

A row between the United Kingdom and the European Union could escalate in the coming days, after both sides indicated they are ready to take things to the next level regarding the divorce deal they signed as London left the bloc.

Aspects of the deal, known as the Brexit withdrawal agreement, have rankled the UK government ever since it tried to put them into practice on Jan 1, 2021. London has repeatedly called on the bloc to renegotiate it since then.

But Brussels has insisted the legally binding agreement can and should be made to work, and said London must honor its commitments under the deal.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that the EU will announce measures in the coming days to try to force the UK to abide by the agreement.

Clement Beaune, France's European affairs minister, said in an interview with Europe 1 radio on Tuesday that the UK depends on the EU for energy supplies.

"Enough already," he said. "We have an agreement negotiated... by Michel Barnier, and it should be applied 100 percent. It isn't being."

He said he had talked to his European counterparts who were ready to "take measures at the European level or nationally, to apply pressure on the United Kingdom".

France has been particularly perplexed by the UK's refusal of fishing permits for French vessels, despite the withdrawal agreement calling for them to be granted.

"We defend our interests," Beaune said. "We do it nicely, and diplomatically, but when that doesn't work, we take measures."

The Financial Times reported a similarly exasperated UK has issued threats of its own, with London saying it will suspend parts of the withdrawal agreement that pertain to trade between the British mainland and the UK province of Northern Ireland. David Frost, who negotiated the withdrawal agreement with Barnier, is seeking a massive rewrite of that part of the deal, which is known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

During the annual conference of the UK's ruling Conservative Party, Frost said Brussels has not understood how much London dislikes the protocol. "I urge the EU to be ambitious. ... We need significant change," Frost said.

The protocol, which was put in place to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, irks London as it treats one part of the UK differently from the rest, and because it gives oversight to the European Court of Justice.

The BBC reported that Frost claimed suspending the Northern Ireland Protocol may be "the only way" forward.

Fuel shortages

In another development, the UK has sourced less than 10 percent of the 300 EU lorry drivers earmarked for immediate short-term visas to help ease the country's post-Brexit fuel supply crisis, the government confirmed on Tuesday.

Britain has seen more than two weeks of queues and panic-buying at petrol stations, particularly in London and southeast England, after supply issues initially prompted the temporary closure of a small number of retailers.

A survey by the Petrol Retailers Association showed that around a fifth of fuel stations around London and the southeast still had low supplies on Monday. It said the shortages could continue for another week.

Jonathan Powell in London contributed to this story.