Whitehall chiefs set to use carbon paper for important documents in case of blackouts amid crisis

GOVERNMENT officials are preparing to use carbon paper to make copies of important documents if Britain is hit by devastating blackouts.

It is part of Doomsday planning across Whitehall amid fears the energy crisis could cause power cuts this winter.

Carbon paper was invented in 1806 - before Queen Victoria came to the throne.

But now most ministers and mandarins use emails and photocopies for official government business.

One official told the Financial Times: “The idea is you’d have people running up and down Whitehall handing out carbon copies of documents to colleagues at other departments or agencies, to keep people in touch.

“This is all about addressing concerns over how to keep the government communicating with each other in the event of a crisis.”

The former chief executive of Energy UK said Vladimir Putin has been “playing” the “economic war” with the West.

But she said the brutal shock of the Ukraine invasion has given Britain a kick it needed to take energy security more seriously.

Angela Knight told Times Radio: “He’s (Putin’s) actually playing the economic war extremely well, he’s playing the psychological war extremely well.

“We have been panicking as a country – Europe has been panicking as well – and it’s not surprising and I’m not critical of it.

“I’m just saying that, actually, over the last say 20-25 years, there’s been a view about energy policy which has resulted in a lot of dependencies from external countries and they’re not all that friendly.”

She added: “I do believe that we need more energy security and I do believe that we need more security on our food, and we have to get there.”