UK Prime Minister Warns: Stock Up on Battery Devices in Case of Grid Meltdown

People must buy battery-powered radios, torches and candles to boost their “personal resilience” in the event of a national crisis wiping out digital network or power supplies, the UK government has said.

 

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, has given the first of what will be an annual update to MPs on the government’s national risk and resilience strategy.

 

Guidance to be issued next year will help people to prepare for different emergencies.

 

He said that members of the public needed to be more “personally resilient” as he suggested they have become too reliant on devices powered by the internet.

 

A new “resilience website” will contain advice on how people can ensure they are prepared for being left without power for the gadgets they rely on for communication and will also cover tips for protecting against other risks like phishing attacks from scam emails or texts.

 

Dowden said it would help for the population to be temporarily sent back to an analogue era where modern technology is disabled by power cuts caused by cyberattacks, terror attacks, flooding or other climate-related emergencies.

It follows the publication of a list 89 possible threats earlier this year that would have a significant impact on the UK’s safety, security or critical systems at a national level.

 

It includes risks such as major disruption of Britain’s energy supplies, similar to those caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, malicious uses of drones to disrupt transport and other critical operations or threats to undersea transatlantic telecommunications cables.

 

He said building people’s resilience was essential because “it could be tomorrow that one of these things hits”.

 

Dowden, who as secretary of state for the Cabinet Office is responsible for preparing the country for a disaster, said households should ensure they have devices on hand that can be used without modern technology.

 

Speaking during a visit to Porton Down, the UK’s top secret defence laboratory that conducts tests on dangerous biological and chemical substances, Dowden said: “The world has changed unrecognisably and our society is highly reliant on our digital infrastructure.

 

“Government needs to ensure that we are resilient in this digital age, ensuring that our structures take this into account, including considering those analogue capabilities that it makes sense to retain.”

 

Dowden added: “What we’re also looking at is making sure that people are resilient to for example, if you had say for some reason, you had loss of power do you do people have still what we used to use?

 

“In the past you’d go down to a cupboard under the stairs, you’d have a torch or candles or whatever else.

 

“Another example of that is radios. What used to be the case that everyone would be able to access a battery-operated FM radio. How many people actually have that kind of communication device that isn’t reliant on digital and electric? So what would most of us do?”

 

Dowden said: “If it was a public health emergency, the relevant officials would be on [the radio] and we’d need to be able to communicate with people. We need to think about whether we have those resilient communications capabilities.

 

He also announced that a nationwide “volunteer hub” would be set up to “galvanise Britain’s great tradition of civil society” that would invite people to offer their skills and services in the event of a crisis.“This will provide a one-stop shop for those who want to help their communities when crises strike, showcasing all of the resilience-related volunteering opportunities,” Dowden said.

 

The intention of setting up the hub is to “swell the number of volunteers, skills and experience” so they can be matched to where they are needed when disaster strikes.