Strengthening Community Resilience

Debate between Stuart Anderson and Dan Jarvis

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Anderson (South Shropshire) (Con)]

In rural South Shropshire we face flooding and power cuts every year, so I welcome this campaign. However, I do not believe it has landed as the Government intended, because the strategic defence review set out a whole-of-society approach and a national conversation about the threats we face to our resilience. We have talked about the Finnish model. The Finns clearly know the threats through proximity. I believe that to get the public on side, we have to clearly set out the threats to critical national infrastructure that could close the internet down for several weeks or lead to power outages and so on. Does the Minister agree that taking that approach will help the country to prepare better?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his broad welcome of the campaign. I listened very carefully to what he had to say and I do not think there is much disagreement between us. Let me say to him that the Government are constantly reviewing and updating our response to a wide range of threats and scenarios to ensure that we are prepared for every eventuality. He will know that, through the home defence programme, we have been running a variety of security and resilience exercises. There are more of those to come. That is important work, but the Be Ready campaign sits as a strand of that activity, alongside other work we are doing with other colleagues, including in the Ministry of Defence.

Alleged Spying Case: Home Office Involvement

Debate between Stuart Anderson and Dan Jarvis

Monday 20th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I am happy to debate issues of leadership with anyone in this House, not least because I have spent all my professional life trying to keep the country safe. I will continue to serve in government to make sure that we do everything we can to stand against the threats we face. I had hoped, entering into government, that that process would be consensual, and that we could work across the House to keep the country safe. That has been the approach of this Government, and I am sad that Conservative Members do not want to proceed on that basis.

[Stuart Anderson (South Shropshire) (Con)]

Does the Minister believe that the collapse of this case has weakened the UK’s position on the international stage, and that we will see more foreign state actors trying to carry out operations of espionage against Members of Parliament?

[Dan Jarvis]

That is precisely why we work closely with our Five Eyes allies, and why the United Kingdom hosted the five country ministerial in London just a couple of weeks ago. This needs to be a shared endeavour with our allies, our partners and our neighbours. We have a huge amount in common with our international allies, particularly the Five Eyes alliance, and this Government will continue to work closely with them. We will ensure that if any country—whether China or whoever it might be—seeks to interfere in our democratic processes or to harm those who live in our countries, we work collectively across those alliances to stand against those threats.