Government Resilience Action Plan

Sarah Olney Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

I thank the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for advance sight of the statement. The world is now less stable and more insecure than at any time since the cold war. Consequently, the Government must ensure that the British people and the United Kingdom are prepared in the event that our country or an overseas territory is threatened. The Liberal Democrats therefore welcome any measures to strengthen our resilience, especially to the cyber-security threat—a new and evolving threat against which we must be armed.

While the Liberal Democrats welcome the alert test, we call for a wider public information campaign to support resilience building across the UK, and to ensure that the public are properly ready for any potential future conflict or disaster. Perhaps we could take lessons from our Scandinavian neighbours, who are always working to address future threats and providing information to their citizens. Information should be provided through a number of different means, including leaflets and traditional broadcast.

While we welcome the alert test, websites and text alerts will miss millions of British people—those without phones, or without signal or battery—so we need to be ready on all fronts, and not just rely on single text alerts. Will the Government accept the Liberal Democrats’ call to launch a national awareness campaign that draws on different modes of contact?

I welcome the talk about being more resilient to climate emergencies. We have all seen the horrifying pictures and upsetting stories from the floods in Texas in recent days, and in this country, we have had one of the hottest starts to a summer in UK history; it is vital that the Government are not caught unawares as the temperature rises. Last week, I had a meeting in my constituency with Thames Water, which told me that it is preparing drought mitigation measures. The regular supply of water to people’s properties, businesses and agricultural land is vital to livelihoods and everyday lives. What steps are the Government taking, and perhaps putting in their new action plan, to ensure that any drought mitigation measures will not significantly impact the country in the coming months?

[Pat McFadden]

I welcome the hon. Lady’s questions, and join her in extending our sympathies to all those affected by the terrible events in Texas, where we saw the power of nature, and saw so many innocent lives lost.

I welcome the hon. Lady’s comments on the alert test. The test will be publicised well in advance, including through work with domestic violence charities and others, so that everybody knows what is coming. Information for the public is available on the gov.uk/prepare website.

I agree with the hon. Lady that dialogue with the public on resilience is important. In many other countries, that is absolutely normal. Perhaps it has been a little less normal in this country, but we should change that. On risks in the immediate term, our excellent Cobra team in the Cabinet Office scans the horizon constantly for these things, and it is always prepared and ready to go in any emergency.