“Measures taken to protect our rights as an independent coastal state” include a large number of patrol vessels in the military and maritime systems, which are used to provide physical presence, prevention and inspection capability, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said four maritime patrol vessels would be “available to patrol UK waters to assist other government departments where needed”.
With Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union entering a critical 48-hour period, both sides are skeptical about reaching an agreement before Sunday’s deadline.
“The MOD has carried out extensive planning and preparation to ensure that security is ready for a variety of scenes by the end of the interim period,” a UK Defense Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
“This product has a waiting list of 14,000 employees and we ensure that we are ready to support other government departments and officials, including EU change in the winter, Covit-19 and severe weather events,” the spokesman said.
Shrewsbury and Atsam MPs have called for the protection of UK waters from “illegal French fishing” in the non-contractual Berksit case. Daniel Kawczynski urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“With no agreement with the EU on Sunday, we need to get full assurances from Boris Johnson that the British navy will suspend illegal French fishing in our seas from January 1,” Kawczynski said in a tweet on Friday.
Johnson said he hoped to reach an agreement on Friday, but said the situation was increasingly unlikely.
“We hope progress can be made, but what I have to tell you now is that I’ll be on the fly here now. It’s so beautiful. I think it’s wonderful for the UK that we have to go to a solution.
“It will be different than we planned to achieve, but I have no doubt that this country can be prepared and come out in terms of world trade.”
