Last night’s BBC Question Time episode opened up on whether the UK was right to send Royal Navy ships to Jersey. Boris Johnson approved the deployment of HMS Severn and HMS Tamar after French fishermen and ministers threatened to blockade the island’s main port.
A member of the audience called on host Fiona Bruce to “turn it around” and attacked French fishermen for the protest.
He added: “What gave the French the right to suddenly start blocking a British port?
“The only mistake the Royal Navy made was not to sink the ships in the first place.
“It’s an absolutely disgusting thing to have done, and to try to justify it by saying ‘well, we should have been diplomats’, where were they? Shouldn’t they have started diplomacy?
READ MORE: Truce! Boris and Macron to hold emergency summit for ‘peace talks’
On Thursday morning, around 60 French fishing boats protested against their post-Brexit rights to work in Jersey.
Ships protested at Saint Helier, with two Royal Navy ships and two French ships sent to the area to follow the protest.
French fishermen arrived at the port at 7 a.m. in a sea of red smoke and stayed there for 3 p.m., according to the BBC.
The stakes center on the new post-Brexit fishing laws, published last Friday, and on concerns about the reduction of French fishing opportunities in the region.
Licenses are issued to French vessels as long as they can prove that they have fished in Jersey waters before – including proof that they have fished around Jersey on at least 10 occasions during any of the last three years.
Mr Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron would like to end the conflict with “peace talks” according to a source.
A high-level government source told The Times that the UK and France are keen to “end the rhetoric” before the G7 summit next month.
The source added, “We’re a bit like a pair of brothers.
“We are the closest allies and there is no fundamental woe, but things are bumpy.”
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Meanwhile, the EU has furiously accused the UK of violating the terms of its post-Brexit trade deal.
In Brussels, Vivian Loonela, spokesperson for the European Commission, said the “additional conditions” attached to the new licenses violated the Brexit trade deal.
She added: “On April 30, the UK authorities notified the Commission of the granting of 41 licenses to EU vessels fishing in Jersey territorial waters as of May 1.
“But there were additional conditions attached to these licenses.
“Following this reception, we have indicated to the UK that we find that the provisions of the EU / UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which we recently agreed to, have not been respected there, have not been respected. “
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Source: feedproxy.google.com
This notice was published: 2021-05-07 04:08:40
