Ricketts urges more spending to protect UK infrastructure from hybrid attacks

Lord Peter Ricketts has urged the UK government to spend more on defence and on protecting vital infrastructure against what he describes as increasingly dangerous Russian “hybrid attacks”. The former national security adviser told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that energy, transport and air traffic control needed better protection. [1]

Such attacks can involve cyber operations, sabotage or disinformation rather than conventional military action. Ricketts said ministers should speak frankly to the public about the risks and the money needed to respond. He warned that people could eventually be killed. Moscow denies involvement in attacks attributed to it, the BBC reports. [1] [3]

His warning follows an annual speech by MI5 director general Sir Ken McCallum, who called Russia the agency’s “aggressor number one” and urged people working in critical infrastructure to follow security guidance. McCallum said MI5’s caseload for threats from states had quadrupled over the previous decade. That figure covers state threats generally, not just Russia, and counts cases rather than attacks carried out. [2]

The government’s 2025 national security strategy had already promised measures to make critical infrastructure more resilient. What remains unclear is how much of that work has been delivered and whether it addresses the risks Ricketts identified. [4]