Military prepare for post-Brexit civil war in Britain and Northern Ireland
By
Steve James
8 January 2019
Junior Defence Minister Tobias Elwood says 50,000 soldiers had to be readied for deployment on Britain’s streets in the event of a “no-deal” Brexit.
With Britain’s scheduled exit from the European Union (EU) less than 90 days away, his comments, quoted from an anonymous source in Saturday’s Times newspaper, confirm that the ruling elite is preparing for the potential eruption of a civil war.
The Times reported, “Ministers at a no-deal Brexit planning meeting on Thursday [January 3] were told that 30,000 regular troops and 20,000 reserves must be ready to help manage the consequences.” Elwood was reported as warning that the troops had to be in place “in case of civil unrest, to assist at Britain’s airports and to ensure fuel and medical supplies.”
The mobilisation proposed is extraordinary. Fifty thousand soldiers are close to half the current size of the British Army, which currently stands at 81,500 regulars and just over 27,000 reservists. It is more than the force sent by the British government to invade Iraq in 2003 as part of the US-led invasion.
Elwood was clear that this force should be directed above all against the working class. The source reported that he “suggested that fellow ministers should remember what happened in the fuel blockade in 2000 [when troops were used to protect fuel deliveries] and plan for that kind of thing on a mass scale. …”
Only last month, the government announced that 3,500 troops would be on standby to “support any government department on any contingencies they may need,” according to Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. The 3,500 would be in addition to 5,000 troops continually on standby—nominally…