UK must prepare for infrastructure attacks by hostile states, says Streeting

The defence secretary, Wes Streeting, has said Britain should prepare for the threat of “state-sponsored terrorism” by hostile powers targeting everyday infrastructure as part of a national conversation about resilience in the face of emergencies.

He said on Thursday the public should consider how to respond to so-called hybrid warfare risks, such as cyber-attacks that could knock out payment systems used by businesses or cause supply chains to collapse. He also said the public should consider natural risks, such as flooding or wildfires.

European states have become increasingly vocal about the threat of sabotage efforts by enemies, particularly Russia, which can cause disruption or even directly threaten safety. These efforts have included an explosives-laden drone found next to a Ukrainian cargo plane at Germany’s Leipzig airport in August, and a series of unexplained explosions and fires at defence facilities.

Streeting was speaking at a new tank gun barrel factory in Telford in the West Midlands. The factory, owned by the German manufacturer Rheinmetall, is part of efforts to accelerate rearmament in the face of Russian military threats, but Streeting also emphasised that the public should be prepared for hybrid warfare, or sabotage actions that stop short of outright war.

“Terms like hybrid warfare and grey zone threats do not accurately capture or convey to the general public what I prefer to describe as state-sponsored terrorism,” he said. “So in the face of those threats, which are not hypothetical but real, and not somewhere else but increasingly here, we have to step up and take seriously our national resilience as well as our national defence.

“It’s really important that we ask households and businesses, are they prepared? Are they ready? Do they know how they would respond in the event of everyday challenges that might manifest themselves?”

The government indicated in August that UK citizens will be told to stock up on tinned food and take other steps to prepare for national emergencies.

Streeting’s comments came less than a week before the first budget under Andy Burnham and his chancellor, John Healey. The defence secretary said Healey would set out plans to increase military spending to 3.5% of GDP in next year’s spending review.

He said: “I suspect at this stage of the budget cycle I am the only member of the cabinet who can confidently say both at this budget coming up and next year’s spending review that not only have we been spending more on defence, but we will continue to invest even more in defence, and it’s vital that we win.”