Prepare for supply chain disruption from cyber or climate emergencies, Streeting warns
Prepare for supply chain disruption from cyber or climate emergencies, Streeting warns
Tara Mewawalla, BBC News
22 October 2026
Members of the public and businesses need to think more about how they would cope with natural disasters, cyber-attacks or state-sponsored terrorism, the defence secretary has said.
Wes Streeting warned people needed to be more aware of emerging risks facing the UK and make plans to deal with them.
He added that the government was launching a “national resilience conversation” to raise awareness, including advice for households like stocking up on food, bottled water and first aid supplies.
Streeting also said that cyber incidents – like the recently discovered critical security flaw in the programming language which powers much of the internet – will happen “more and more”.
Streeting told BBC One’s Question Time that the UK is facing a greater threat to the country, “than we have certainly for most, if not all, of my lifetime”.
Speaking to an audience at the UK Gun Hall Plant in Telford earlier on Thursday, where it was announced production of tank gun barrels would return to the UK, he spoke of “everyday challenges” facing households.
He pointed to wildfires burning this summer and the flooding that isexpected this winter.
Streeting said the public need to be prepared for “increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks” on businesses, or supply chain disruption caused by “hostile state actors or terrorists”.
The defence secretary referenced the critical security flaw in the PHP programming language which has left organisations around the world scrambling to update their systems.
In the UK, 32 government services were offline while the potential cyber-security issues were addressed.
“It’s not just from foreign states engaged in espionage or sabotage; it’s also organised criminals,” Streeting told Question Time.
“In this world of AI that we live in… it does also present threats if people are innovating and pushing against conventional [cyber] defences.”
The government hopes to improve the UK’s preparedness for emergencies, such as those caused by increasingly likely severe weather events and cyber-attacks by hostile states.
Incidents could leave the public without access to everyday services such as mains water, sewage, phones and the internet.
