Highlights
- The ‘Be Ready’ campaign recommends keeping non-perishable food, bottled water, a torch and first aid supplies for three days.
- Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the public should be alert to risks but not alarmed, stressing that the advice was not prompted by a specific threat.
- The government says better household preparedness would help emergency services prioritise people who need more support during a crisis.
UK households are being urged to stock up on food, bottled water and other essentials as the government launches a campaign to help the public prepare for emergencies.
The ‘Be Ready’ campaign advises families to keep enough supplies at home to manage for three days if everyday services are disrupted.
The guidance comes amid concerns about extreme weather, cyber-attacks and possible disruption to supply chains. Such incidents could affect access to electricity, water, phones, the internet and other essential services.
Speaking at the UK Gun Hall Plant in Telford on Thursday, where the government announced that production of tank gun barrels would return to Britain, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the country needed to be more prepared for a range of risks.
He pointed to wildfires during the summer and the prospect of flooding during winter, alongside increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks on businesses and disruption caused by hostile states or terrorists.
“How would we cope if the payment systems at the local supermarket went down?” he asked.
Streeting said the government wanted people to be ready for everyday challenges that could affect essential services, adding that everyone had a role to play in improving the country's resilience.
What should households keep ready?
The ‘Be Ready’ checklist recommends that households prepare supplies to last for three days, including:
- Non-perishable food and bottled water
- A torch and spare batteries
- A first aid kit and essential medicines
- Sleeping bags or warm blankets
- A battery-powered or wind-up FM radio
The radio could help households receive updates if mobile networks or internet services are unavailable. The campaign also advises people to write down the frequencies of the national or local stations they rely on for news.
Streeting said the advice was not based on a specific incident or imminent threat. He told BBC One's Question Time that people should be “alert but not alarmed”.
The supplies could help households manage a power cut or a disruption to supermarket payment systems, he said.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the guidance would help emergency services focus on people who needed additional support during crises. He added that similar preparedness advice was already a normal part of everyday life in countries including France, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Why is the government raising preparedness now?
The campaign follows warnings about the UK's vulnerability to disruptions from extreme weather, cyber-attacks and problems with food supply chains.
Last month, Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle urged households to prepare for extreme weather as a powerful El Niño event develops in the Pacific Ocean. She warned that the phenomenon could bring more extreme storms to Britain.
A National Audit Office report also highlighted risks to the UK's food supply, including plant and human disease outbreaks, cyber-attacks and severe weather. It said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had not done enough in recent years to strengthen supply chain resilience.
The government has also warned that the UK faces a more challenging security environment, including threats from hostile states and the possibility of disruption to critical infrastructure.
Streeting said the aim of the campaign was to help people cope with emergencies that could affect daily life, rather than to suggest that a particular crisis was about to happen.
