Brussels was engaged in last-ditch talks on Monday to try to defuse an escalating dispute between the UK and France over post-Brexit fishing rights, prompting Emmanuel Macron, the French president, to suspend a threatened round of sanctions against the UK while the negotiations continue.

Paris had vowed to block UK fishing boats from landing their catches at French ports and to increase checks on UK imports to France from midnight on Monday if Boris Johnson’s government did not grant more licences to French boats. But Macron said hours before the deadline that he would delay the measures to “give a chance” for the talks due to continue on Tuesday.

“You don’t impose sanctions while negotiations are continuing,” he said on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. “The coming hours are important?.?.?. I understand the British are going to come to us with other proposals.”