UK households could be issued official survival guides as the Government prepares to update its Cold War-era “War Book” framework amid growing concerns over hostile state threats and infrastructure vulnerability.
The revised contingency planning, expected to be completed by the end of the year, is designed to strengthen national preparedness for scenarios ranging from cyberattacks to large-scale disruptions to energy, food, and medical supply chains.
While much of the updated document will remain classified and intended for use by ministers and military officials, a public-facing version is also under consideration that would provide households with guidance on preparing for emergencies during periods of heightened national risk.
The move reflects rising concern within Whitehall over the potential for coordinated attacks on critical infrastructure, including power networks, transport systems and undersea communications cables.
Officials have previously warned that Britain faces an increasing threat from cyber operations and sabotage linked to hostile states, with particular focus on Russian activity targeting Western infrastructure.
Recent naval tracking operations reportedly detected Russian submarines operating near undersea cables and pipelines in the High North, prompting warnings from Defence Secretary John Healey that any interference would be met with “serious consequences”.
The updated “War Book” will reportedly include detailed contingency planning for maintaining essential services in wartime conditions, including food supply chains, medicine distribution, energy resilience and industrial continuity.
The framework is understood to draw on Cold War-era planning structures, which were designed to ensure government continuity and civilian resilience in the event of large-scale conflict with the Soviet Union, i newspaper reported.
Its revival comes amid renewed warnings from senior defence figures about the UK’s preparedness for modern hybrid warfare, which blends conventional military threats with cyber operations, disinformation campaigns and economic disruption.
Former NATO Secretary General George Robertson has previously accused political leaders of “corrosive complacency” over national security, warning that Britain is “underprepared, underinsured and under attack”.
His comments reflect growing unease within defence circles about the UK’s ability to respond to simultaneous threats across multiple domains, particularly given ongoing concerns about personnel shortages and procurement delays within the armed forces.
The Government has also faced criticism over delays to its long-term defence investment strategy, which is intended to underpin the Strategic Defence Review and set out capability planning for the next decade.
Ministers have insisted the plan is in development, though internal disagreements are believed to be slowing progress.
The potential introduction of public survival guidance would mark a significant shift in Government communications, signalling a broader effort to prepare civilians for disruption scenarios once considered remote but now increasingly viewed as plausible within parts of the security establishment.
While officials stress there is no immediate threat of major conflict, the renewed focus on resilience planning underscores how sharply the strategic environment has changed since the end of the Cold War.
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