France ‘to let UK use its warships’

FRENCH military chiefs are drawing up plans to let the Royal Marines borrow their warships if UK vessels are axed.

Ministers are deciding whether to scrap the Navy’s amphibious landing fleet to make £20billion in cuts as part of an ongoing defence review.

Two senior French military officials say France could let the elite unit train and run joint deployments from their three amphibious landing ships if needed.

One told the Financial Times: ‘The idea is that in the case of one of the two countries having to reduce certain capabilities ... we could mitigate the consequences by standing shoulder to shoulder.’

The move has not yet been put to British naval or military commanders.

British defence chiefs are currently under pressure to find ways to save money across the three services so extra cash can be put into modern defences, such as cyber warfare.

An MoD spokesperson said: ‘No decisions have yet been made.’