THE weekend news that the Westminster government is seriously considering the possibility of having to declare martial law after a no-deal Brexit should have been risible.

With The Sunday Times breaking the story, one social media commentator put it succinctly: “I had to check the date to see if was April 1.”

Sadly it was not, and the most wretched aspect of all the possible horrors of no-deal Brexit is that martial law is not entirely out of the question, but will be a measure of last resort should uncontrollable violence break out on the streets.

The fact that martial law is being considered at all shows just how far the madness surrounding Brexit has developed.

READ MORE: UK Govt prepare for 'martial law' in the event of no-deal Brexit

This is what a source told the newspaper: “The over-riding theme in all the no-deal planning is civil disobedience and the fear that it will lead to death in the event of food and medical shortages.”

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme if the government was considering the possibility of martial law, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “Not specifically, no.” He added: “It remains on the statute book but it isn’t the focus of our attention.”

With the rhetoric ramping up on all sides and a no-deal Brexit a real possibility, the Tory government is at least being realistic in looking at what might happen if, as anticipated by many experts, there are food and medical shortages.

There is also the question, which has not yet been addressed, as to what will happen in the case of a delayed, or possibly no Brexit at all. With all the anger that has been seen across England on the issue – just look at recent Question Time broadcasts – is there anyone who does not think the Brexiteers will take to the streets or worse? And what if Remainers decide to confront them? With such inflamed passions on both sides of the argument, it would make the poll tax clashes of the 1990s look like a nursery school playground squabble.

Most of the public controls in the case of a no deal will have to be implemented by the devolved governments, then local authorities, who along with the NHS, the police, the fire and rescue service and ambulance service are responsible for nearly all aspects of emergency planning.

It would be instructive to ask your local council what preparations it has made for a no-deal Brexit. I am pretty certain the answer would be somewhere between negligible and none, for that sort of thing just isn’t on the agenda, is it?

As someone who was once a very small part of a local authority’s emergency planning team more than 25 years ago, I can reveal that civil war and an outbreak of violent revolution were never seriously considered at the time, even after Margaret Thatcher and her cohorts brutally suppressed the 1984 miners’ strike.

No-one seriously considered the prospect of major riots on the streets except to conclude that the police and all the services would struggle and the government of the day would have no option but to send in the army.

The riots which started in London in 2011 were a case in point. The police managed, just, to bring back some order after days of rioting, burning and looting, but to do so they had to arrest and incarcerate many hundreds of people, thereby stoking up more resentment among those who rioted.

The Home Secretary of the day, Theresa May, resisted calls for the use of water cannon. One wonders if she’ll retain that attitude after March 29.

Anyone who doubts that the UK Government - all such matters are reserved to Westminster - has the power to impose martial law should read the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

It allows the government – without even consulting Parliament – to take any appropriate provisions to protect human life, health, safety and supplies, up to and including the provision of Military Aid to the Civil Authorities, or MACA as it is known

The Conservative journalist Peter Hitchens once wrote: “The Civil Contingencies Act can be used to turn Britain into a dictatorship overnight, if politicians can find an excuse to activate it.”

MACA documents say: “Military support may be provided to civil law enforcement agencies, such as the police or Border Force, in the maintenance of law, order and public safety.” In other words, martial law.