King’s Speech

Baroness Antrobus Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Antrobus (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Houghton, mentioned his due humility to those more senior than him in this House. I am but an infant in comparison, so I address your Lordships with that in mind. In the brief time I have, I will reflect on national resilience, on government progress—or lack thereof—following the recommendations in the SDR, and on the contribution that your Lordships’ House is making and can make in the immediate future.

The noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, spoke of deterrence, and resilience is part of deterrence—specifically, in doctrine, deterrence by denial. Colleagues who have visited Ukraine this spring have commented on the impact that the last horrific winter had on the Ukrainian will to defy Russia’s illegal invasion. They spoke of lives lived underground, under nets and under concrete. They talked of the worst winter ever, because of both the huge increase in Russian drone and missile strikes and the impact of attacks on energy infrastructure, combined with bitterly cold weather. Yet it seems that, if anything, that has hardened resolve and resilience—a sense that, “If we can survive that, we can survive anything”.

However, in the UK, I worry about what the public could survive. Already, we know that Russia is attacking us. I live in Salisbury and know well the impact that Russian murderous aggression has had on our soil. My fellow citizen, Dawn Sturgess, lost her life due to that attack, and the city of Salisbury suffered severe physical and economic consequences over not just months but years. The issue is not whether people have courage—of course they have. It is whether government and institutions have given them the information, tools, trust and support to be resilient.

We need a clear path to improve national resilience, to have that national conversation that we know we need to have. Resilience does feature in the King’s Speech, and prominently in the cyber security and resilience Bill, but as expected there was no defence readiness Bill, which was recommended in the SDR. That leaves us without a clear path to improving national resilience, and I hope my noble friend the Minister can explain to the House later how that national conversation will be stimulated by the Government in the coming months. The need is urgent—in fact, critical.

The noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, chair of the House of Lords National Resilience Committee, wrote in the House magazine this month of the Nordic countries’ approach to preparing their citizens for emergencies. As she put it, those Governments

“communicate candidly about risks. The result is not alarmism but assurance”.

The Nordic example shows us that honesty about risk can be reassuring, empowering and mature. Assurance and information are what people need and I know that this House cares about this topic: we recently debated civil preparedness for war in Grand Committee and the overwhelming conclusion was that we need to make more time for this subject in this House.

In conversation, I have become increasingly vocal in my opinion that this challenge cannot be answered by defence policy or strategy alone, just as the SDR said. A couple of weeks ago, I and some of my fellow Labour newbies, or new joiners, met to discuss defence issues, because it is a subject we all care about. It became very apparent to us that my fellow Peers, with expertise from local and national government to insurance, from the emergency services to law, and from housing to education—that is just a small sample of the experience of my intake—have deep understanding across hugely important, diverse areas in the national resilience conversation. The answer does not lie just with those who live and breathe defence and security, although the experience of noble and gallant Lords and other specialists in these areas is always needed.

Your Lordships’ House contains exactly the range of experience a serious resilience conversation requires. I look forward to the report from the National Resilience Committee in November and I hope my noble friend the Minister agrees that we all have our part to play now—today and tomorrow; not just in this House, but outside it; and not just talking but acting. To reiterate, resilience is not about frightening people, it is about trusting them with honest information and giving them the confidence and means to play their part.