Families will today be urged to stockpile three days’ worth of food and water to help build national ‘resilience’.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will advise people to make contingency plans for dealing with potential emergencies such as prolonged power cuts, cyber attacks and floods.
Last year, Mr Dowden said people should stock up on ‘analogue capabilities’, such as candles, torches and wind-up radios, to boost their ‘personal resilience’.
Today he will go further by encouraging people to stock up with enough food and water to survive for three days without leaving their homes.
Whitehall sources insisted that the plan was not designed to create a nation of US-style survivalists. One said Mr Dowden’s intervention was not meant to be ‘alarmist’ and was simply ‘common sense’ advice.
Ministers believe preparations by individual households will help take pressure off the emergency services when dealing with a crisis. They also hope it could avert the kind of panic-buying seen at the start of the Covid pandemic, when supermarket shelves were cleared of basic supplies of items such as toilet rolls.
U.K Government Warns Public To Start Emergency Prepping
“Retailers have today warned families against pandemic-like panic buying, as the government has revealed a survival kit you can build to prepare for emergencies.
Items including a battery or wind-up torch, bottled water, non-perishable food, baby supplies and a first aid kit are deemed essential to have at home when a crisis hits.
It comes as Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will today advise people to make contingency plans for dealing with potential emergencies to help build ‘national resilience’ and ease pressure on emergency services.
Last year, Mr Dowden said people should stock up on ‘analogue capabilities’, such as candles, torches and wind-up radios, to boost their ‘personal resilience’.
Today, he will go further by encouraging people to stock up with enough food and water to survive for three days without leaving their homes.
But retailers have warned families against pandemic-like panic buying, which saw shelves cleared of toilet paper and pasta, and have instead encouraged people to build their kit over time.
Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability at the BRC, told MailOnline: ‘Retailers did an excellent job ensuring the country had access to food and other necessities throughout the pandemic, and we are confident they will rise to future challenges.
‘While it is sensible to have some additional food at home, most households will find they already have sufficient non-perishables sitting in the cupboard”