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Speaking to the National Security Strategy (Joint Committee) yesterday, Ministry of Defence parliamentary under-secretary Luke Pollard admitted that the Submarine Telegraph Act 1885 – which can impose £1,000 fines – "does seem somewhat out of step with the modern-day risk."

However, he pointed out that forming legislation to mitigate the risk to undersea infrastructure is a balance between a civil and military approach, but this raises the question of how the government might prosecute a perpetrator of undersea cable sabotage.

"We've identified that this is an area that could be looked at again. That's why the Strategic Defence Review talked about creating a defence readiness bill, probably in a later stage, a later session of parliament," he said.

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