Army reservists on standby in UK as France plans for No Deal

PLANS for a chaotic no- deal Brexit were ramped up yesterday with army reservists told they could be called up to deal with the fallout.

Civil servants across government have also been warned they face being moved away from their normal jobs and conscripted to help with emergency planning.

It comes as France triggered its no-deal strategy and announced it would spend £44 million to beef up security at airports, ports and the eurotunnel – including hiring nearly 600 extra staff.

there are fears a no-deal Brexit on March 29 could cause gridlock around ports and disruption to the supply of goods because of the need for more customs checks.

French prime minister edouard Philippe said a no-deal scenario was looking ‘less and less unlikely’ as he unveiled five emergency laws he said would ‘ preserve and defend’ the rights of French people.

He said France could no longer wait for a potential deal or other developments.

the measures include building more border control checkpoints, roads, lorry parks and warehouses at ports.

Hundreds of extra customs officers, vets and other inspectors will be employed to carry out the necessary checks on goods, livestock and food products. european Commission spokesman Margaritis schinas said a no-deal Brexit was now something being taken ‘very seriously’.

at home, the Ministry of defence published an order allowing army reservists to be called into permanent service for a year from February 10. and it emerged that Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff had been warned they could be conscripted into no-deal planning jobs from the middle of next month.