Britons told to take action now to prepare for national emergency

Britons have been told to take action now to prepare for a national emergency.

Downing Street has called on the public to begin making "small but important steps" to safeguard access to water, electricity and mobile phone connectivity in preparation for potential emergencies.

Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Prime Minister, addressed MPs with a stark warning that the risks of climate change "cannot be underestimated," cautioning that extreme weather could trigger "significant and prolonged disruption to essential services."

The Government has simultaneously announced a national public awareness campaign designed to help households prepare for crises, "be that severe weather or a cyber-attack which can impact access to power, water, phone signal or local shops to get food".

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The national risk register has been expanded to include seven additional crisis scenarios.

Among the newly identified threats are the danger of foreign powers interfering in British democratic processes and potential cyber-attacks targeting data systems, water infrastructure and police networks.

A "digital resilience failure" scenario has also been incorporated, drawing on lessons from the worldwide technology disruption triggered by the CrowdStrike incident in 2024.

Research from the National Preparedness Commission, presented privately at Westminster in May, indicated that Britain's essential supply chains remained ill-equipped to withstand a significant shock such as conflict with Russia.

The findings suggested the UK was falling behind European neighbours in stockpiling critical medicines.

Mr Jones highlighted that temperatures across the country shattered records in May before being surpassed again in June.

Scientists have warned that fossil fuel combustion and intensive agricultural practices have exacerbated extreme heat, with data indicating that the June heatwave across England and Wales claimed approximately 440 lives per day at its three-day peak.

The chief secretary also raised concerns about the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence, noting that ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine could empower criminals to launch "hostile cyber-attacks against businesses and critical infrastructure."

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Mr Jones said: "AI offers new ways for criminals to carry out cyber-attacks against us, as well as offering huge opportunities for our economy and security."

Britain's largest-ever national home defence exercise has been scheduled for 2027, with hundreds of officials set to participate in wargaming scenarios that test the country's readiness against hybrid attacks.

The exercise aims to ensure alignment with Nato allies amid escalating threats.

Armed forces minister Louise Sandher-Jones said: "Russia is not only a threat to Nato's eastern flank.

"It is a direct threat to the UK homeland and these exercises, together with important measures like updating our 'war books', will help prepare us to meet that threat, as well as showing the British public how seriously we are taking it."

Labour peer Lord Harris of Haringey, the chairman of the National Preparedness Commission, has also warned the UK lacks a large stockpile of "strategic raw materials" to improve national resilience.

Lord Harris argued that Britain has "the most open economy amongst the G20" and imports a large proportion of supplies necessary for life, such as food, medicine and key raw materials.

He raised fears that the country could be "shut off" in the event of a conflict, with a need to divert existing resources to the military.

His remarks were made in the House of Lords as it discussed the delayed Defence Readiness Bill, which was recommended by the Strategic Defence Review more than a year ago but was omitted from the King's Speech in May.

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