UK government tells public to stock up for emergencies and cyber attacks

British households and businesses must prepare for natural disasters, cyber-attacks and hostile state actions by stocking up on essential supplies. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting announced a new national resilience conversation to raise public awareness of these emerging threats.

Supplies

The government campaign advises families to keep items like bottled water, non-perishable food, first aid kits, torches and battery-powered FM radios to survive for three days without basic services. Streeting spoke at the UK Gun Hall Plant in Telford, where he warned that threats facing the country are greater than at any time in his lifetime. Officials noted the advice aims to help households cope with power cuts, severe weather and digital disruptions at local stores.

Threats

Streeting pointed to summer wildfires, winter floods and a recent critical security flaw in the PHP programming language that forced 32 government services offline. He cautioned that artificial intelligence enables more sophisticated attacks from foreign states, saboteurs and criminal groups. Security Minister Dan Jarvis added that similar preparedness campaigns are already common in European nations like France, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Context

Governments frequently issue emergency preparedness guidelines to ensure citizens can sustain themselves during short-term infrastructure failures and severe weather events. These advisory campaigns draw on official risk assessments regarding climate volatility and digital security dependencies. Such measures help reduce immediate pressure on emergency services when critical utilities experience disruptions.