Jersey news – live: Royal Navy warships stood down as French fishing boats leave St Helier after protest
Follow the latest updates
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK
Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight
French fishing vessels are now sailing away from St Helier in Jersey following a protest over post-Brexit fishing rights. Several dozen small craft took part in the demonstration on Thursday morning.
France’s navy dispatched two coastal patrol vessels to monitor the protest, while Britain deployed two Royal Navy ships, HMS Severn and HMS Tamar, to conduct a similar task.
However, despite rising tensions, the UK will “absolutely not” go to war with France over the fishing dispute, Jersey’s foreign minister has said.
Ian Gorst told TalkRadio threats from Paris about cutting off Jersey’s electricity were “totally disproportionate to the technical issues” of implementing Brexit, but that diplomatic solutions were needed.
On Thursday he said he had “positive” talks with the French fishing crews.
French patrol boat reportedly headed toward Jersey
France has reportedly ordered one of its coastal patrol boats to monitor the fishing protest around Jersey.
Sky News and others reported French authorities as saying that the Athos would accompany the flotilla of fishing vessels as a safety measure.
The French defence ministry described Athos and her sister vessel Aramis as “an essential link in the chain of maritime territorial defence”.
She has a crew of 12 and is based at Cherbourg.
The Independent has contacted France’s defence ministry for more information.
A brief history of British fishing feuds, from the Cod Wars to Brexit
A flotilla of around 60 French trawlers have descended on Jersey after threatening to blockade the port of St Helier and stop goods arriving or leaving as part of an ongoing row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
The British government has responded by sending two Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels, the HMS Severn and HMS Tamar, to the Channel Island as a precautionary measure after reacting angrily to what it said were disproportionate and unacceptable threats from French maritime minister Annick Girardin to cut off the island’s electricity supply.
Here Joe Sommerlad recounts some more historical disputes.
A brief history of British fishing feuds, from the Cod Wars to Brexit
Tensions with France last erupted in the Channel in the ‘Scallop Wars’ of August 2018
Images show flares lit in protest
New photos show French fishermen lighting a flare during the protest at Jersey.
Jersey foreign minister meeting with French fishermen, report says
Ian Gorst, Jersey’s foreign minister, is reportedly meeting with French fishermen aboard the Normandy Trader, a UK-flagged vessel.
Marie Carof-Gadel, a reporter from Ouest France, broke the news.
More reports of French patrol vessel deployments
The Agence France-Presse news agency is now reporting that two French patrol vessels have been dispatched to Jersey to monitor the fishing protest.
Infographic shows EU nations’ reliance on UK fishing waters
This infographic, created for The Independent by statistics agency Statista during the Brexit negotiations, shows how European fishing depends on Britain’s waters.
Man ‘shoots’ musket in defiance amid Brexit fishing row
French navy deploys patrol vessels to Jersey
The French navy said on Thursday it had sent two patrol boats to the waters around Jersey, reciprocating an earlier gesture by Britain which ordered two Royal Navy craft to monitor a protest by French fishermen.
The vessels were deployed on the orders of the French civil authorities, the navy said. It did not give details of what they would be doing in the waters off Jersey.
Ship-tracking website marinetraffic.com showed one of the two vessels, Athos, a coastal patrol boat belonging to the Gendarmerie Maritime, located about 20km southeast of Jersey and heading in a southwesterly direction.
The French defence ministry website describes Athos and her sister vessel Aramis as “an essential link in the chain of maritime territorial defence”.
Athos has a crew of 12 and is based at Cherbourg.
France sends patrol boats to Jersey as post-Brexit tensions rise
France has despatched two patrol boats to Jersey as tensions continued to rise in the dispute over post-Brexit fishing rights.
EU says UK is breaking Brexit trade deal amid Jersey fishing row
The European Commission has told Britain that the conditions imposed on licences for French fishing vessels in Jersey territorial waters breach the terms of the EU/UK trade deal, a Brussels spokesperson has said.
The announcement came as France despatched two patrol boats to the island in the English Channel as tensions continued to rise in the dispute over post-Brexit fishing rights, writes Andrew Woodcock.
News agency Agence France-Presse reported the two police vessels had been sent after Britain deployed a pair of Royal Navy vessels to the scene, where a flotilla of French fishing vessels are attempting to blockade St Helier harbour.
EU says UK is breaking Brexit trade deal amid Jersey fishing row
The European Commission has told Britain that the conditions imposed on licences for French fishing vessels in Jersey territorial waters breach the terms of the EU/UK trade deal, a Brussels spokesperson has said.
Opinion: The Jersey gunboats are awfully convenient for Boris Johnson – but not even he would start a war for votes
What better headlines on election day than “Boris sends gunboats”, in the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Mirror?
A bit of anti-French patriotism might go down particularly well in Hartlepool, where legend has it that a monkey that survived a shipwreck during the Napoleonic wars was hanged as a French spy, writes John Rentoul.
It won’t be long before conspiracy theorists suggest that the prime minister engineered the showdown with French fishing boats in Channel Islands waters in order to engineer a suitably nationalist backdrop to his biggest electoral test since the general election.
The Jersey gunboats are awfully convenient for Boris Johnson | John Rentoul
The prime minister must have been delighted with the headlines on polling day, writes John Rentoul
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies