null
...
'This is like an invasion': Now Macron sends military boat racing towards Jersey for stand-off with Royal Navy warships - after 100 French fishermen BLOCKADE harbour and surround British vessels in row over post-Brexit fishing
- HMS Severn and HMS Tamar were sent from Portsmouth 'as a precaution' in ratcheting up of row with France
- The Royal Navy ships are roaming Channel after Paris warned yesterday it could cut off electricity to Jersey
- PM deployed the ships after intelligence said 100 French boats could blockade Saint Helier Thursday morning
- French maritime minister yesterday accused Jersey of dragging its feet over licences for French fishing boats
- David Sellam, head of the Normandy sea authority, said: 'We're ready for war. We can bring Jersey to its knees'
Emmanuel Macron has sent a military boat racing at full speed towards Jersey for a stand-off with the Royal Navy as 100 French fishing vessels blockade the harbour.
Athos was hurtling towards the British Crown dependency to confront HMS Severn and HMS Tamar - despite them being far superior in size and power - as they monitor the protest over post-Brexit fishing rights.
The British boats are armed with cannon and machine guns and are roaming the Channel after Paris warned yesterday it could cut off electricity to the island - which is largely supplied via an undersea cable.
Boris Johnson is understood to have decided to deploy the huge patrol boats after intelligence revealed the 100 fishing boats would block access to the port at Saint Helier.
The sabre-rattling Prime Minister will keep his eye on events in the Channel throughout today as voters take to the polling booths in the local elections.
It comes after French maritime minister Annick Girardin yesterday accused the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French fishing boats.
She said France was ready to take 'retaliatory measures' – suggesting it could cut its power, with 95 per cent of its electricity coming from France.
David Sellam, the head of the Normandy-Brittany sea authority, added he believes Jersey has been taken over by an 'extremist fringe who want to reduce French fishing access and profit from Brexit'.
Royal Navy gunships patrol sea off Jersey as 100 French fishing boats threaten to blockade harbour | Daily Mail Online