GREEN MP Caroline Lucas has warned of a potential "collapse of law and order" if Brexit went ahead without a deal.
Speaking at a People's Vote press conference in Westminster, she said: "The Government has not put 3,500 troops on stand-by to hand out plastic Union flags for everyone to wave at their no-deal Brexit street parties. It's put troops on stand-by to help deal with the potential collapse of law and order.”
The Brighton MP went on: "It is simply incredible that with just 66 days until we risk crashing out of the EU with no deal, the Prime Minister and her shambles of a Government are still prepared to entertain the social and economic catastrophe they know a no-deal Brexit would be."
In the case of no-deal, Ms Lucas also warned: “We don't know exactly how many roads in Kent will become a lorry-park, exactly which businesses will collapse, how many planes will be grounded, which shelves will be empty or indeed whether the streets of Northern Ireland will be safe."
She added: "It is unforgivable to be playing games with peace in Northern Ireland."
During Commons exchanges on Monday, Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, asked Theresa May to clarify what their rules of engagement would be for the 3,500 on standby in the event that they faced “angry and violent demonstrators and would they be armed?”
The Prime Minister, referring to necessary contingency arrangements, replied: “We are talking about those troops perhaps being able to relieve others who are undertaking roles such as the guarding of certain sites.”
Earlier, Mrs May spoke about how the staging of a second EU referendum could “damage social cohesion by undermining faith in our democracy".
But Labour’s Peter Kyle told MPs: “There is only a very small minority, an ultra-small minority of very, very right-wing people, who are trying to undermine social cohesion in this country in order to prevent a People’s Vote. When did the Tory Party start running away from fascists rather than standing up to them?”
The PM hit back, saying the Hove MP’s comment was “beneath him”. She explained: “Throughout my political career, when I have seen other countries hold second referendums on decisions relating to Europe because the first one did not come out in the way the politicians of the time wanted it to, it was hugely important that people accepted the result of the first one.
“This House overwhelmingly voted for our referendum and overwhelmingly voted to trigger Article 50 and I believe we should follow through on those decisions and deliver on the vote that people took in the referendum in 2016.”
Later her spokesman, when asked if the PM was alluding to potential violence on the streets, said she was merely expressing concern over the possibility of "bad feeling or rancour" and the harm to trust in democracy if the majority who voted Leave in 2016 felt their voice was being ignored.
However, one Liberal Democrat MP, whose party favours a People’s Vote, denounced Mrs May for “scaremongering”.
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