The first test for the nationwide smartphone warning system was sent in April 2023, while the alerts have been used since then for real-life emergencies to people in particular regions of the country affected by flooding and red weather warnings.
The Government’s National Security Strategy, launched this week, issued a stark warning that the country now had to “actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario”.
This is expected to include advertising campaigns to make the public aware of the nationwide alerts, as well as pointing Britons to the government’s Prepare website, which contains information on how households can stock up on emergency supplies and make plans and escape routes in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
The strategy also highlighted the Government’s annual “Tier 1” emergency exercises, which involve several Whitehall departments, police, NHS, councils and other public sector bodies, taking part in simulations to ready the authorities for a disaster.
Planning for other disasters, including pandemic ‘wargaming’
Module One of the Covid Inquiry heard criticism that the Government was not prepared for a coronavirus pandemic, which involved people passing on the virus without symptoms, because all previous planning had gone into a possible influenza outbreak.
The pandemic exercise will take place over several months, for one day at a time, rather than an intensive two-day simulation, to replicate a “real-life” outbreak unfolding over a long period.
Preparing for a wide range of threats
Keir Starmer, at the Nato summit in the Hague on Wednesday, was asked whether people should start thinking seriously about Cold War-style preparations.
“Equally in relation to energy, that is being weaponised quite obviously in the last few years, you can see that in what’s happened in Ukraine, and also on the question of counter terrorism and state-backed actions in our country… a very big threat with very many attempts to infiltrate our systems…
“That is a real threat to our country that we have to take seriously… a cyber attack is an attack on our country by our adversaries. Russia and Iran are carrying out those attacks on a regular basis, and we have to be prepared for them.”
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