Britain has welcomed France’s postponement of planned trade sanctions, as talks continue over a dispute over post-Brexit fishing licences. France had earlier said that it would restrict cross-Channel trade from 2300 GMT on Monday in response to the UK’s alleged violation of the UK–EU pact on post-Brexit relations by rejecting dozens of applications by French fishermen to fish in British waters. But French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he was postponing the planned trade sanctions on Britain so that negotiators from both sides could work on new proposals to defuse their dispute. Talking to Sky News on Tuesday morning, Britain’s Environment Secretary George Eustice said the UK welcomed the fact that “France has stepped back from the threats it was making.” “We’ve always said we want to de-escalate this and always said we have an ever open door to discuss any further evidence France or the EU might …