The British Government hauled in a European Union (EU) envoy for a meeting amid a spike in post-Brexit tensions after one of the bloc’s leading officials accused London of having a vaccine export ban.

EU diplomatic officials were invited for talks with British Foreign officials on Wednesday morning in London, European Commission spokesperson, Peter Stano confirmed in Brussels, without offering further comment on the outcome.

In the wake of widespread criticism of the bloc’s own vaccine shipment register which blocked a 250,000 dose export to Australia last week, European Council President Charles Michel accused Britain and the United States of vaccine nationalism.

Britain, however, denied the accusation flatly.

Both had imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory, he said in a blog post, prompting an immediate rebuttal from London.

Britain insists it does not have a ban on vaccine exports specifically.

It has restricted outward shipments of a number of medicines deemed critical for the treatment of Coronavirus (COVID-19), however.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected suggestions the government had blocked exports of vaccines or vaccine components.

“I therefore wish to correct the suggestion from the European Council president that the UK has blocked vaccine exports,’’ he told lawmakers at the weekly questions to the prime minister session in the British parliament on Wednesday.

“Let me be clear, we have not blocked the export of a single COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine components.

“This pandemic has put us all on the same side in the battle for global health: we oppose vaccine nationalism in all its forms.’’

The EU has stressed in recent weeks that in spite of its export control system, it was a major producer and exporter of shots.

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This is not the case for Britain, according to senior EU lawmaker Manfred Weber, who called on London to show the EU “the export data of vaccines to Europe or anywhere else’’.

Pfizer/BioNTech has sent eight million doses from the EU to Britain, the German politician tweeted on Wednesday.

The commission declined on Wednesday to disclose the numbers of doses exported from the EU.

The EU executive has strict privacy agreements with suppliers.