The government wants UK households to stock up on food. Here’s what to buy

UK households are being urged to stock up on essential items in case of emergencies, according to reports.

A new public information drive is set to encourage people to prepare for extreme weather, cyber attacks and hostile state action.

The national resilience campaign aims to highlight the steps people can take to stay safe in a crisis that may cause power or water supplies to stop or where shops are forced to close.

The government aims to help people cope in a national disaster, in order to free resources for most vulnerable.

What will people be asked to stockpile?

Tinned food and bottled water are some of the essential items the government could ask people to stock up on.

A source told The Financial Times: “There will be practical advice on things you can do to improve domestic resilience, like having some bottled water and tinned food. It will be common sense, not scaremongering.”

What threats is the government worried about?

Andy Burnham’s government is focusing on national resilience in the wake of threats from Russia.

The government is also concerned following the record-breaking heatwaves the UK has experienced this summer, plunging the country into drought and causing numerous wildfires.

According to the FT, the government is accelerating work on its “war book” – a manual for the defence of the nation against external threats – as well as a social media campaign with advice to help people to deal with the impacts of extreme weather.

It also updated its national risk register last month, with the risk of interference in the UK’s democratic process added to it.

The national risk register is the government’s assessment of the most significant risks facing the UK.

It is a planning tool designed to help professionals prepare for risks and is not intended to be a prediction of future events.

However, this change came as Russia said there would be “consequences” following reports that British-built drones were deployed to hit targets on its mainland for the first time.

Ukrainian army sources told The Times that drones made by two British companies have been used in the past six months to attack targets including oil refineries in Volgograd and near Moscow and logistics hubs.

Russia’s embassy to the UK said in a statement on Monday that the reports “confirm that London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis” and accused Britain of “seeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy”.

“London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer,” it added.

“The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kyiv’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.”

But in a speech outside Kyiv’s St Sophia cathedral on Monday, Andy Burnham vowed he would not be deterred from providing aid to Ukraine.

Why are the heatwaves a concern?

Analysts have warned extreme heat and ongoing droughts are putting Britain at risk of its “worst food security crisis in decades”.

The knock-on impact of five back-to-back heatwaves and prolonged dry conditions could destroy farmers’ harvests, leading to food shortages later this year and increasing reliance on foreign imports, according to analysts from the investment bank Shore Capital.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) warned the situation is “increasingly concerning” and that dairy farmers are already using winter feed because grass has stopped growing.