Defence Secretary Wes Streeting warned the UK public and businesses on Thursday to prepare for supply chain disruptions caused by cyber attacks, extreme weather, or state-sponsored terrorism. He made the comments while announcing the return of tank gun barrel production to the UK at a facility in Telford, Shropshire.
Streeting asked how the country would function if payment systems at local supermarkets failed during a cyber attack. He cited wildfires from this summer and flooding expected this winter as examples of threats facing households. The government is launching a "national resilience conversation" to raise public awareness of emerging risks.
The Defence Secretary said households and businesses need to make concrete plans to handle disruptions. He pointed to "increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks" on businesses and supply chain disruption caused by "hostile state actors or terrorists" as core concerns.
The government's "Be Ready" campaign encourages households to stock supplies for three days, including non-perishable food, bottled water, a torch, sleeping bags, first aid items and an FM radio for news updates during outages. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the advice will allow emergency services to prioritise people needing more support during crises and hopes to "improve our resilience as a nation". He noted similar campaigns are considered "a normal part of everyday life" in France, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle warned last month that a powerful El Niño climate phenomenon developing over the Pacific Ocean will drive "more extreme storms" in the UK, urging households to stock food supplies. A National Audit Office report found Britain's food supply chain is vulnerable to plant or human disease outbreaks, cyber attacks and extreme weather. The NAO said the Department for Food, the Environment and Rural Affairs had not done enough to improve supply chain resilience and that UK households are less prepared for emergencies than those in Finland and Sweden.
The government's national security strategy, launched last year, warned the UK must "actively prepare for the possibility of the UK coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario." It referenced Russia's war against Ukraine and "Iranian hostile activity on British soil" as threats the nation faces.