A new £5bn digital warfare centre is set to be built in Samlesbury.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Defence Secretary and MP for Wyre and Preston North, Ben Wallace, said the National Cyber Force headquarters would be capable of launching offensive cyber attacks against hostile states such as Russia.

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Mr Wallace said the new centre is ‘essential’ to ensure Britain can defend itself against potential adversaries in cyber, ‘a new domain in battle’.

He said: “We will be one of the very, very few nations in the world with that scale.

“Some foreign states are waging cyber warfare on us every single day. And we have a right under international law and among ourselves to defend ourselves. We will defend ourselves from cyber warfare if that warfare is dangerous, corrupting, or damaging.

“Offensive cyber can do a range of things, including going after paedophiles and their networks, going after terrorism and their networks, and obviously going after hostile states, should we choose to do so where they use capabilities.

“It’s a new front, a new domain in battle. And that’s what we’ve got to be able to do here.”

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Boris Johnson is expected to mention the centre in his keynote Conservative Party conference speech as an example of the Government’s levelling up agenda.

LancsLive reports that the centre, which will be run jointly by the Government Communications Headquarters, is expected to employ thousands of cyber experts and analysts by 2030.

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