The government has ruled out sending households a 'shopping list' of emergency supplies, a day after launching its Be Ready campaign urging the public to stockpile three days of food and water, as Conservative critics accused ministers of lecturing the public. Treasury minister James Murray said the advice was about providing information, not dictating people's purchases.
The government has said it will not issue a 'shopping list' to the public for emergency stockpiling, a day after launching its Be Ready campaign urging households to prepare for disruption to everyday services.
Treasury minister James Murray told Times Radio on Friday that the campaign was about providing information rather than directing purchases. "This is not about the Government sending out a shopping list to everyone in the country," he said. "This is about putting the right information there on the government website, having an information campaign so that people are aware about it and then people taking the right choices for themselves about what they need to make sure they have supplies of at home."
The clarification came as the campaign drew a divided response from Conservative politicians. Shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat said it was "a perfectly reasonable thing to ask people" to keep provisions for several days. But shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns accused the government of failing to lead by example. "It isn't families that are failing to fund our defence or secure reliable energy, it's Labour," she said. "We each have a role to play, but the Government must lead by example."
Professor Harry Pitts, from the University of Exeter's centre for the public understanding of defence and security, said the push was encouraging but should be "led from Downing Street downwards", arguing that the national conversation on defence and security recommended in the Strategic Defence Review 2025 had yet to fully begin.
The Be Ready advice asks households to store three days' worth of non-perishable food and three litres of bottled water per person per day, plus a wind-up or battery-powered FM radio, cash, a torch, blankets, a first aid kit, essential medication and supplies for babies and pets. Neighbours are encouraged to exchange contact details.
Defence secretary Wes Streeting, who launched the campaign on Thursday at a new tank gun barrel factory in Telford, said the government wanted people to be "alert but not alarmed" and that there was no "specific thing" in mind behind the advice. He warned that cyber incidents would happen "more and more", and spoke of "state-sponsored terrorism" by hostile powers targeting everyday infrastructure.
The launch came as 32 UK government services were taken offline while officials addressed a critical security flaw in the PHP programming language, which underpins most websites. The National Cyber Security Centre urged organisations to update to a fixed version or consider taking sites offline, and security minister Dan Jarvis said "those who can follow this advice should follow this advice". The government says the guidance brings the UK into line with France, Ireland and the Netherlands, where such preparation is a normal part of everyday life.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- The campaign marks a shift in how the UK government talks about national resilience, asking households to prepare for disruption to water, power, payments and communications
- The political dispute over whether citizens or the state bear responsibility for emergency readiness is likely to intensify as threats are publicly discussed
- The launch coincided with a real-world demonstration of cyber risk: 32 government services were taken offline over the PHP vulnerability
Background
The Be Ready campaign urges households to hold 72 hours of supplies: three litres of bottled water per person per day, non-perishable food, a wind-up or battery-powered radio, cash, a torch, blankets and a first aid kit. Defence secretary Wes Streeting unveiled it at a tank gun barrel factory in Telford, warning of "state-sponsored terrorism" and increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks on businesses. The guidance follows similar campaigns in France, Ireland and the Netherlands, and comes after a National Audit Office report found UK households less prepared for emergencies than those in Finland and Sweden. The government has only rarely run such public information campaigns, with ministers of both parties historically wary of being accused of scaremongering; the 1980 Protect and Survive campaign, which advised people how to build a bomb shelter and keep 14 days of food, is a rare previous example.
Key Perspectives
The government: Ministers frame the advice as everyday national resilience. Treasury minister James Murray insists the campaign is about information and awareness, not a directive, and that people should make their own choices about what to keep at home.
The Conservative opposition: The party is split. Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns says the government should get its own house in order before lecturing families, citing defence funding and energy security. Shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat takes a softer line, calling the advice reasonable.
Security experts: Professor Harry Pitts of the University of Exeter welcomes ministers highlighting threats from adversaries, but warns the long-promised national conversation on defence and security must be led from Downing Street if it is to succeed. The concern is that the campaign becomes a gesture rather than a genuine programme of resilience.
What to Watch
- How the public responds to the social media and radio advertising campaign, and whether it is seen as reassuring or as scaremongering
- Chancellor John Healey's first budget, due within days, and whether it commits new funding to defence and resilience
- Any further fallout from the PHP vulnerability, which prompted 50,000 alerts from the National Cyber Security Centre and temporarily took 32 government services offline