The business that will monitor UK vessels is part-owned by the French government

Brexiteers have long hailed the “sea of opportunity” that awaits British fishermen and women after the UK leaves the EU — but now it has emerged that their boats will be monitored by a French company.

The business that won the tender to track UK fishing vessels wherever they operate, as well as foreign-licensed boats in British waters, is Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS),

a French maritime surveillance provider.

The contract was awarded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in late summer having previously been held by a British firm, Globavista.

The situation is reminiscent of the 2018 blue passport saga, in which De La Rue, a Basingstoke-based banknote-maker, lost the contract to produce UK passports to a Franco-Dutch conglomerate, Gemalto. De