UK ready to defend against spy balloons - Rishi Sunak

The government will do "whatever it takes" to keep the UK safe from spy balloons, Rishi Sunak has said.

The PM said a "quick reaction alert force" of RAF Typhoon jets was on stand-by 24/7 to "police our airspace".

But "national security matters" prevented him from commenting in more detail.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is conducting a security review after the US military shot down a series of objects in Western airspace.

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On 4 February, the US military shot down a Chinese spy balloon after it travelled over sensitive military sites across North America. China has claimed the object was a weather balloon gone astray.

Since then, the three other "unidentified objects" have been downed across North America.

On Friday, the US military shot down an unknown "car-sized" object flying in US airspace off the coast of Alaska.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that he ordered a US warplane to shoot down an unidentified object that was flying high over northern Canada.

US fighter jets also shot down an "unidentified object" over Michigan on Sunday.

"People should be reassured that we have all the capabilities in place to keep the country safe," Mr Sunak said on Monday.

"We have something called the quick reaction alert force which involves Typhoon planes, which are kept on 24/7 readiness to police our airspace, which is incredibly important."

Transport minister Richard Holden earlier suggested that it was "possible" that Chinese spy balloons might already have flown over the UK.

He said the UK government was "concerned about what's going on" in the US and had to be "robust" in how it dealt with Beijing.

A Typhoon jet takes off from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire

Downing Street said that the UK was "well prepared" to deal with security threats to British airspace, with threats judged on a "case-by-case" basis.

The prime minister's official spokesman indicated that the UK's approach to China will be reviewed as part of the update to the ongoing security review.

"China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests," the spokesman said.

"It is a challenge that grows more acute as it moves to even greater authoritarianism.

"You will know we are updating the Integrated Review and it will take into account some of these evolving challenges we are seeing," the spokesman said.

Mr Wallace said on Sunday that the UK and its allies would "review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security".

"This development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse," the Defence Secretary said.

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chairman of the Commons defence select committee, said China was "exploiting the West's weakness" with the potential spy balloons.