Britain more vulnerable to blackouts this winter, warns Labour

Delays to a government plan for dealing with national emergencies has left the UK more vulnerable to blackouts this winter, it has been claimed.

Labour said that the failure to publish the national resilience strategy had left Britain open to threats such as power shortages, future pandemics and floods.

In March 2021, the Government launched an integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy aimed at protecting the UK against threats at home and abroad.

The review promised a national resilience strategy to build up the UK’s defensive capabilities against a “diverse range of risks”, from “chronic” issues to “catastrophic impact events”.

However, 18 months on, the strategy is still yet to materialise. A commitment made by the Cabinet Office in October to publish it this autumn has now been missed.

Labour pointed out that since the integrated review, the UK had experienced record temperatures, a cost of living crisis and the prospect of energy blackouts. Last week, the National Grid announced that it had come close to triggering its blackout prevention scheme for the first time.

Fleur Anderson, Labour’s shadow paymaster general, said: “The national resilience strategy was promised in the integrated review more than 18 months ago, but it appears it’s at the very bottom of ministers' to-do list.

“They said it would be ready by autumn, but winter is already upon us. How many more national emergencies is it going to take for the Government to wake up? They must publish their national resilience strategy without further delay.”

Ms Anderson linked the delay to high turnover of ministers at the Cabinet Office, with the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on its fifth incumbent since the strategy was promised.

“This chaotic government’s conveyor belt of ministers has left Britain lagging behind events,” she said.

“After 12 years of complacency, the next Labour government will never leave our country with such a soft underbelly.”

Labour has said it will improve resilience by creating a new national security sub-committee on the issue, reviewing the COBR national emergency committee and bolstering the Cabinet Office.

A government source said a version of the resilience strategy already existed in Whitehall and work on implementing its measures had started in some departments. But it is understood no date has been set for its publication.

The Cabinet Office pushed back against Labour’s claims, pointing out that astronomical winter begins on Dec 21. According to the meteorological calendar, the first day of winter is Dec 1.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “The first duty of any government is to keep the public safe. That’s why we are further strengthening how we prepare for and respond to emergencies, boosting the effective resilience capability we already have in place.

"We will shortly publish our comprehensive strategy for resilience which is already being put into practice across government. There are robust contingency plans in place to ensure that the country is ready to meet the challenges of winter and beyond."