BRITAIN has to buckle up for “one of the most dangerous periods we have ever known”, the Prime Minister insists.
In a major speech today, Rishi Sunak said that “more will change in the next five years than in the last 30”.
He claims the Conservatives are the party voters should trust in an uncertain future.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer later insisted national security would be his “first priority” if he becomes Prime Minister.
Sir Keir added that the Government had “hollowed out our Armed Forces”, “wasted billions of pounds on procurement” and “doesn’t have a credible plan for the future”.
Spectacular New Year fireworks light up London sky as huge crowds celebrate across UK for first time in three years
So what are the “storms” gathering over Britain that could threaten our security?
Chief Feature Writer Oliver Harvey explains . . .
Artificial intelligence
THE rise of artificial intelligence could mean mass job losses, deep fakes infiltrating politics and the drift towards a surveillance society.
Last year computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, known as the Godfather of AI, quit Google warning: “These things could get more intelligent than us and could decide to take over, and we need to worry now about how we prevent that happening.”
The PM said that, managed correctly, AI could deliver vast improvements in productivity, which has the potential to grow the economy and boost our standard of living.
Terrorism
THE MI5-run Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre rates Britain’s current threat level as “substantial” – the third highest rating of five – which means an attack “is likely”.
Our most senior counter-terrorism officer, Matt Jukes, said earlier this year that the Gaza conflict has led to a surge in Islamist activity.
He added that war in the Middle East was “a radicalisation moment”.
Meanwhile, spooks in Russia – recently targeted by IS, who murdered more than 140 people at a concert hall in Moscow – are said to be recruiting far-Right extremists to carry out attacks in Nato countries.
Mass global migration
THE PM described the global displacement of 100million people “as the new and defining challenge of our age”.
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Mr Sunak added that countries such as Russia have “weaponised” immigration to sow instability in the West.
The Italian government last year blamed Russia’s Wagner mercenary group for a surge in migrant boats trying to cross the Mediterranean, saying it was in retaliation for the country’s support of Ukraine.
The PM believes his flagship Rwanda Bill will prove a deterrent to asylum seekers wanting to come to Britain by small boat instead of by legal channels.
Economic collapse
THE PM called the 2008 international financial crisis the worst since the worldwide Great Depression in the 1930s.
The meltdown was caused by a bursting of the American property bubble, with millions of borrowers unable to repay their loans.
The Ukraine war has now shown again how fragile the global economy can be.
It triggered a massive increase in energy and food prices at a time when the country was still reeling from the pandemic.
The UK has pledged £12.5billion to Ukraine since February 2022, of which £7.6billion has been for military assistance.
Another pandemic
COVID, the PM pointed out, was the first global pandemic since the Spanish flu in 1918.
Now scientists say global warming and deforestation make it increasingly likely that a virus or bacterial agent will “jump” from animals to humans and cause a similar worldwide scourge.
Dr Nathalie MacDermott, clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at King’s College London, said recently: “The next pandemic is around the corner.
“It might be two years, it could be 20 years, it could be longer, but we can’t afford to let our guard down. We need to be ready to make sacrifices again.”
Online bullying and disinformation
THE Wild West of social media is often a sewer of fake news and conspiracy theories.
The PM highlighted children being “exposed to bullying, sexualised content or even self-harm” online.
AI has supercharged disinformation and has been labeled the biggest immediate risk to the global economy by the World Economic Forum.
“Vaccine hesitancy” due to the spread of anti-vax conspiracy theories online has been blamed for an uptick in whooping cough and measles.
Babies are highly susceptible to whooping cough before being vaccinated.
Nuclear war
MR SUNAK said Vladimir Putin’s “recklessness” has brought the world closer to “a dangerous nuclear escalation” than at any point since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Russian president claimed he wasn’t bluffing when he said he would “use all means at our disposal” if his country’s “territorial integrity” was threatened.
While Andrey Gurulyov, a former deputy commander in the Russian military, has said that it could strike Britain with nuclear weapons and turn the country “into a Martian desert in three minutes flat” over our involvement in Ukraine.
Cyber attacks
OMINOUSLY, Mr Sunak said China had “conducted cyber targeting of our democratically elected MPs”.
Ministers last week also suspected China of a hack into the payroll system of our Armed Forces.
And China was accused in March of being behind a 2021 hack of millions of voters’ details held by the Electoral Commission.
Last December, the National Cyber Security Centre said Russian intelligence was behind “malicious cyber activity attempting to interfere in UK politics and democratic processes”.
World War Three
DESPOTIC China, Russia and North Korea – who are bristling with nuclear weapons – and Iran, which is close to acquiring them, are sworn enemies of the democratic West.
Russia is again on the front foot in Ukraine, meaning defence spending will be a key election battleground.
At the weekend North Korea was linked to the supply of 6,700 containers of 50-year-old munitions to Russia, to help with its war effort.
Mr Sunak criticised Labour for refusing to match his commitment to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of national income by 2030.
Threat to democracy
AFTER decades in which democracy was on the march across the globe it is now in worrying retreat.
A poll in 30 countries last year found that 35 per cent of young people felt a “strong leader” who did not hold elections or consult Parliament was “a good way to run a country”.
Another survey found that 2023 was the sixth consecutive year in which democracy declined in half of all countries across the globe.
Mr Sunak and Sir Keir will hope to energise the electorate with their plans for a safe and secure Britain at this year’s general election.
