British military to be sent to North of Ireland for Brexit

Plans are in motion to send British Army Reservists to the North of Ireland to deal with the consequences of a crash Brexit at the end of March.

The Tory Minister of State for the British Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, told MPs that reservists would be deployed "throughout the United Kingdom" as Britain looms closer to falling out of the European Union, taking the north of Ireland with it.

An unknown number of reinforcements are to be deployed to Ireland beginning on February 10, 2019.

According to the Minister, their role will be to protect the "welfare, health and security of UK citizens and economic stability of the UK".

There was strong criticism of the move on both islands.

British Labour MP Ian Murray said it was "staggering" that British reservists are being activated because of the risk of a constitutional crisis of the British government's own making.

Sinn Fein South Down MP Chris Hazzard said it showed how chaotic the British Brexit policy had become. "No government can seriously claim that any policy that results in the need to deploy soldiers onto the streets is a good one," he said.