Commons Library sets out hostile state threats to UK economy

A House of Commons Library briefing published on 13 November 2026 sets out how hostile state activity is affecting the UK, with infrastructure, industry and supply chains among the targets. It draws on the 2025 Strategic Defence Review and the National Security Strategy.

The National Security Strategy describes threats including espionage, sabotage, cyber attacks and democratic interference, aimed at citizens, institutions, universities and businesses. It says critical national infrastructure, including undersea cables, energy pipelines, and transport and logistics hubs, will remain a target. It also warns that growing reliance on data centres and other digital infrastructure will increase exposure to cyber attack, and that hostile states may use criminal and terrorist groups as proxies, making their activity harder to identify.

It names Russia and Iran as the main state actors acting against UK interests, and describes China as a "geostrategic challenge". In October 2025, MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum said state threats “are escalating”, with a 35% rise in the past year in the number of individuals MI5 is investigating for state threat activity.

Western countries, including the UK, have accused Russia of hybrid tactics, among them sabotage of critical infrastructure, industry and logistical supply chains, increasingly through proxies. Russia is also accused of cyber activity, disinformation and politicising energy supplies. NATO and several European intelligence agencies consider the campaign to be escalating.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, General Alexus Grynkewich, told a European Parliament committee at the end of September 2026 that "state-directed sabotage is growing increasingly brazen". The Head of the Royal Navy, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, said Russia considers the UK to be one of its greatest foes among Ukraine's western allies. Russia denies conducting a hybrid campaign across Europe.

The briefing says Iran-linked threats to economic resilience include ransomware operations on unprotected networks, such as critical national infrastructure organisations and the aviation and travel sectors. In 2026 the National Cyber Security Centre advised of a heightened risk of indirect cyber threat for companies with a presence or supply chains in the Middle East.

In August 2026 the Daily Telegraph reported that an Iran-linked cyberattack had shut down a UK power plant for four days. The plant was not named. The government described it as a small scale energy generator and said the wider energy system was never at risk.

In November 2026, the French Government said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was responsible for cyberattacks on fridges and freezers in October that spoiled produce. Iran called the accusation baseless and one-sided. UK measures against Iran and linked actors include expanded sanctions, designation of the IRGC as engaged in foreign state activity, and registration requirements under the Foreign Influence Registration scheme.

UK governments and security agencies have described a rising threat from China, citing its interest in commercial secrets and its use of cyber and other espionage. In March 2024 the UK attributed a cyber-attack on the Electoral Commission to the state-affiliated group APT31. In May 2024, GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler said the agency devotes more resource to China than any other single mission. China's Government denies conducting espionage in the UK.