Unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common, says UK PM.
TBS Report
24 October, 2026, 12:10 am
Last modified: 24 October, 2026, 12:15 am
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has suggested households to keep at least three days' worth of bottled water and tinned food at home to prepare for emergencies, citing growing risks from severe weather, cyberattacks and other unexpected events, reports BBC.
"Unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common," Burnham said, adding that keeping basic supplies at home would help people cope during a crisis.
The government has drawn up recommendations for households to maintain emergency supplies that could help them through situations such as war, cyberattacks or natural disasters.
"It's not about panicking. It's about just taking sensible measures to have enough in the house to tide you over should there be a difficult situation," Burnham told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Asked about Housing Secretary Angela Rayner's suggestion that an emergency kit should include a bottle of wine, Burnham said wine might not be the best first choice during a crisis, although it could help after the immediate challenges had passed.
He said he preferred basic supplies such as baked beans and soup, adding that he also liked to keep Twiglets, a savoury snack, in his cupboard.
Burnham made the remarks at a wildfire resilience summit in Liverpool as storms battered parts of the UK. He expressed concern for people in Cornwall who had lost electricity because of the severe weather.
He rejected suggestions that the government had failed to prepare adequately for emergencies, saying the focus was on encouraging people to become better prepared in a world where disruptions were increasingly common.
Last month, the National Audit Office warned that Britain's food supply chain faced growing risks from cyberattacks and the climate crisis. It also said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had not done enough in recent years to strengthen the supply chain's resilience.
The chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, which represents companies transporting temperature-controlled food, also told the BBC that Russian cyber-hackers were targeting the UK and knew there were vulnerable points in its food supply system.