France has despatched two patrol boats to Jersey as tensions continued to rise in the dispute over post-Brexit fishing rights. It comes after the Royal Navy sailed ships to the Channel Island, as the argument over post Brexit fishing rights boils over.
French maritime minister Annick Girardin has said The French Government would cut off electricity to Jersey – which gets 95 per cent of its power supply from France – if the dispute is not sorted out.
Agence France-Presse reported the two police vessels had been sent after Britain deployed a pair of Royal Navy vessels to the Channel Island.
Earlier dozens of French fishing boats gathered off the Jersey capital, St Helier, amid fears they were preparing to blockade the harbour.
Jersey’s external relations minister, Ian Gorst, said he would be speaking to the French fishermen in an attempt to defuse the worsening row.
“It’s important that we respond to threats, but the answer to this solution is to continue to talk and diplomacy,” he told BBC News.
HMS Severn and HMS Tamar have been deployed by the UK Government to “monitor the situation”.
Sending the Navy into the area has raised criticisms from some on social media.
One user Tweeted: “It took centuries of war between rival nations to get the peace that our generations have taken so much for granted. Yes the fishing thing will blow over, but none of this benefits us – the only winners are the populist politicians reaping opportunity and power from the chaos.”
If that wasn’t enough a member of the Jersey Militia reenactment group was seen firing on the French boats with a musket from Elizabeth Castle this morning. It’s after the flotilla of French fishermen who blockaded Jersey’s main harbour returned to open water.
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Related: Reaction as Johnson sends gunboats to Jersey to ‘de-escalate tensions’
