UK tells households to keep three days of emergency supplies in 'Be Ready' campaign
Britain's government urged people to store three days of water and food at home, citing this week's PHP cyber outage, a record summer of heat and wildfires, and threats from hostile states.
At a glance
- The UK government on Friday, October 23, 2026, launched a 'Be Ready' campaign advising every household to keep three days of bottled water and non-perishable food at home.
- It linked the advice to this week's PHP software flaws, which took some online services offline, and to a record summer of heat, drought and wildfires.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Britain had too often been 'playing catch-up' on emergencies and announced a wildfire plan that includes military aircraft.
- Defence Secretary Wes Streeting warned that AI will make cyber incidents more common and that the UK faces its highest threat level in decades.
- The advice mirrors the European Commission's 2025 call for EU citizens to keep a 72-hour emergency kit.
The British government on Friday, October 23, 2026, advised every household to keep at least three days of bottled water and non-perishable food at home, as it launched a national "Be Ready" preparedness campaign. Ministers said this week's PHP software flaws, which knocked some online services offline, and a record-breaking summer of heat, drought and wildfires showed why families need to be able to cope on their own during a crisis.
What the government is asking
| Advice | Detail |
|---|---|
| Campaign | "Be Ready" |
| Launched | Friday, October 23, 2026 |
| Water | Enough bottled water for three days |
| Food | Three days of non-perishable food |
| Who | Every household in the UK |
| Reasons given | Cyber incidents, extreme weather, hostile states, organised crime, climate change |
The government did not point to any specific threat. It said the aim is to make households less dependent on emergency services in the first days of a major disruption, such as a power cut, a water outage, flooding or a large cyber-attack.
The PHP outage and the summer of fires
Serious flaws in PHP, the programming language that runs a large share of the world's websites, were disclosed on Wednesday, October 21. Governments and companies rushed to patch their systems, some services were taken offline as a precaution, and security firms recorded millions of hacking attempts. Ministers said the disruption was a clear example of the kind of event the campaign is meant to prepare for.
Britain also had a record-setting summer of heat, drought and wildfires in 2026. Speaking at the first "Wildfires '27 Resilience Summit" at the National Resilience Centre of Excellence in Aintree, near Liverpool, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a new wildfire response plan that will include the use of military aircraft to help fight fires.
What ministers said
Burnham said Britain had too often been "on the back foot" and "playing catch-up" in preparing people for natural disasters such as wildfires and floods, and that the country needed to be more proactive.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said incidents like the PHP outage would become more frequent because artificial intelligence makes it easier for attackers to find ways around traditional defences. He also pointed to hostile states, organised criminals and climate change, saying the UK faces a greater level of threat than at any time in most, if not all, of his lifetime.
Background: Europe's preparedness push
The UK's advice follows similar moves across Europe. In 2025 the European Commission urged EU citizens to keep a 72-hour emergency kit including food, water, cash and power banks. Sweden and Finland have long sent households booklets on what to do in a crisis or war, and Germany has expanded its civil-protection guidance since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A simple three-day kit
- Water: about 2 litres per person per day for drinking, plus extra for washing
- Tinned and dried food that needs little or no cooking, and a manual tin opener
- Torch, battery or wind-up radio, spare batteries and charged power banks
- First-aid kit and a supply of regular medicines
- Some cash, copies of key documents and a list of emergency phone numbers
Why it matters
The campaign marks a shift in how Britain talks to the public about risk, moving from "the state will handle it" towards shared responsibility. For the large Pakistani and South Asian community in the UK, the advice is practical: households that rely on online banking, delivery apps and electric cooking are more exposed to cyber outages and power cuts.
What happens next
The government is expected to publish more detailed Be Ready guidance and run public information adverts in the coming weeks, while the new wildfire plan is due to be in place before the 2027 fire season.
Questions people are asking
What should be in a three-day emergency kit in the UK?
The government's Be Ready advice is to keep enough bottled water and non-perishable food for three days. Similar EU guidance also suggests cash, a torch, a battery radio, power banks, medicines and copies of important documents.
Why has the UK told people to stockpile supplies?
Ministers say cyber-attacks, extreme weather such as wildfires and floods, and threats from hostile states make disruption to power, water or online services more likely, and households should be able to cope on their own for a few days.
Is the UK expecting an emergency?
No specific emergency has been announced. The campaign is a general preparedness measure, similar to advice already given in the EU, Sweden and Finland.
