Overview

• Lord West of Spithead disclosed that eight al Qaeda operatives tried to poison north London’s water supply in 2008 before UK security services intervened successfully.
• He said Home Office–led initiatives on police response times, reservoir outflow monitoring and new physical barriers were launched after the plot but that their current status is unclear.
• Environment Minister Baroness Hayman told peers that Defra collaborates with water companies and bodies such as the National Protective Security Authority and National Cyber Security Centre to monitor and counter threats.
• Lord Harris of Haringey warned that drones could deposit contaminants in reservoirs, while former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Hogan-Howe flagged confusion over which departments are responsible for water infrastructure security.
• The parliamentary scrutiny comes as Sir Keir Starmer’s newly published Strategic Defence Review pledges a ‘battle-ready, armour-clad’ nation to strengthen resilience against state-led threats.