London: The United Kingdom has readied 3,500 troops, who are on standby, in case of a no-deal Brexit, with a parliamentary vote on the Withdrawal Agreement coming up on January 14, 2019.
“We’ve as yet not had any formal request from any government department but what we are doing is putting contingency plans in place,” UK’s Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson told the House of Commons on Tuesday (local time).
He further said that the 3,500 service personnel would be on standby to help any government department in the face of a contingency, according to CNN.
UK Prime Minister has until now survived one no-confidence motion against her while another motion was tabled by the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, in the Commons on December 17.
Meanwhile, the UK government has started preparing for the possibility of no-deal with the European Union (EU) and will start sending out advice to businesses and households that will be affected by the withdrawal.
Corbyn had earlier described the agreement as a “botched” deal, voicing the sentiments of many Members of Parliament who believe the same.
May had halted the parliamentary vote on the deal on December 10 to put forth the concerns vocalised by British MPs with her European counterparts. She visited Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to meet with European leaders for the same on December 11, where the European Commission (EUCO) reiterated that the deal will not be renegotiated.
There are only a few months to go until the UK withdraws from the EU on March 29, 2019. In 2016, over 50 per cent of the UK electorate had voted to leave the EU, following which the British government had triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, beginning the country’s process of exiting from the bloc. (ANI)
