UK households are being urged to stockpile five key items to deal with power cuts - just as Spain, Portugal and France have been smashed by huge power outages.
Tobias Ellwood, former UK Defence Minister and MP, has urged people across the country to stock up on essential items to help navigate possible infrastructure failures, due to the very real chance of what he calls a 'grey zone attack', perpetrated by nations like Russia in secret. He stressed that problems like power cuts, internet outages and supply issues could happen to the UK at any time, but that many people haven't got the supplies at home to make it through such interruptions unscathed.
Mr Ellwood went on record last Thursday to urge people to be prepared for ‘real world scenarios we must seriously consider’ including drone attacks, internet outages and power cuts. Just days later, on Monday, April 28, huge parts of Spain and Portugal were hit with a power cut.
Much of the two countries was brought to a standstill on Monday after a power cut switched off traffic lights and left people unable to access cash machines.
The blackout saw train passengers stranded and millions of people left without phone and internet access after the outage on Monday.
Mr Ellwood has urged households to stockpile seven key items including drinking water, food and radios as well as iodine tablets and cash, with five of the items in particular focused on power cuts.
Writing in PoliticsHome, he said: “What if your phone buzzed with a national emergency alert warning of a swarm drone attack en route to your city – where would you go? How would you respond?
"These aren’t scenes from a dystopian thriller – they’re real-world scenarios we must now seriously consider.
“Britain is now facing a surge in grey-zone warfare – deniable, covert attacks aimed at weakening our economy, undermining our infrastructure, and sowing confusion and panic. Russia’s so-called shadow fleet is already mapping the UK’s undersea cable networks – those vital arteries that deliver our electricity, gas and data. Autonomous underwater vehicles are criss-crossing the seabed, gathering intelligence.
“This isn’t speculation – Russia’s ambassador to the UK recently acknowledged that sensors had been placed in British waters, after several devices washed ashore. The Royal Navy is responding, ramping up its ability to detect threats and developing its own unmanned underwater vehicles. But this fight doesn’t begin and end with the military.”
Mr Ellwood urged households to stock up on these seven key items:
• Clean water (at least 100 litres)
• Non-perishable food (such as tinned food and food that can be eaten cold)
• Candles and a working torch
• A battery-powered radio
• Iodine tablets in case of nuclear fallout
• Cash (in case ATMs and card readers go down)
• A basic first aid kit
He added: “The era of complacency is over. A significant grey-zone attack on the UK is not just possible – it’s likely. If we want to protect our lives, our economy and our democracy, we must get ready now.”
The UK's own emergency website, Prepare UK, echoes the call from the former defence minister. It also urges Brits to stock up on these five items for power cuts:
As well as these power cut items, UK households should stock up on a first aid kit, bottled water, hand sanitister and baby supplies, the UK government says.
It adds: "Emergencies happen every day in the UK and across the world. They can be caused by severe weather or other natural hazards, by deliberate actions, or as a result of accidents or infrastructure failure. They can be events that happen quickly and are over in a few hours, or they can develop and continue over the course of several days, months or sometimes even longer.
"Consider what supplies you and your household might need during an emergency lasting a few days, such as a power cut or water outage, or situations where you are advised to stay at home or to leave your home (evacuate) for safety reasons."
