The Scottish Government is considering a proposal from Gordon Brown to establish a new civil defence force, involving individuals and families, to help protect the nation from a range of 21st-century security threats and natural disasters.

The Scottish Government is considering a proposal from Gordon Brown to establish a new civil defence force, involving individuals and families, to help protect the nation from a range of 21st-century security threats and natural disasters.

Outlining the UK Government's new National Security Strategy, the Prime Minister told MPs that "new threats demand new approaches", involving a radically updated and more co-ordinated security policy.

Each summer, a "risk register" is to be made public to set out the dangers facing the UK from international terrorism to climate change to financial disasters.

Mr Brown said an aim of the strategy was to improve "local resilience", telling MPs: "Not the old Cold War idea of civil defence but a new form of civil protection that combines expert preparedness for potential emergencies."

The new civil defence force was likened to the air-raid precaution or ARP wardens of the Second World War. But civil emergencies is overseen in Scotland by the Holyrood Government and it will be up to Scottish ministers to decide whether to take on Mr Brown's ideas.

SNP Westminster leader and defence spokesperson, Angus Robertson MP, said: "It appears that the Scottish Government have not been consulted as they should, and it is essential if we are to have an effective national security strategy."