Andy Burnham has told people to keep tinned food and bottled water at home, saying beans and water sell out is not a reason to panic but a prompt to be ready for emergencies. He said households should treat the advice as a practical stock-up for storms, online disruption and other crisis situations.
The checklist calls for three days of supplies, including nine litres of water per person, along with tinned food and other basics. Burnham said: "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."
Angela Rayner and the cupboard
Angela Rayner added her own version of an emergency box last month at Labour's conference, saying it would include a bottle of wine, mascara, concealer, a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, a tin of baked beans and a tin of custard. Burnham replied that he would stick to the basics, saying he likes beans and keeps plenty in the cupboard, along with soup.
He also recommended Twiglets, underlining how the advice has been presented as a household checklist rather than a formal ration plan. The government list goes further than food and water, suggesting an FM radio that is either battery or wind-up powered, hand sanitiser, wet wipes, toiletries, food for pets, supplies for babies, a torch, blankets, a charged power bank, cash, a first aid kit and copies of important documents.
Be Ready checklist
The National Audit Office warned last month that Britain's food supply chain is at risk because of the growing threat of cyber-attacks and the climate crisis, and said Defra had not done enough in recent years to improve supply chain resilience. The government recommendation sits against that warning, and against the check Burnham described at a wildfire resilience summit in Liverpool, where he linked the advice to storms and to people without power in Cornwall.
He said: "No, we're having the conversation with people about being better prepared because we're living in a world where unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common." He added: "Obviously, weather events, and we're in a situation today where the UK is facing storms and obviously, we feel for the people without power in Cornwall right now."
Burnham and the basics
Burnham denied the government had failed to properly prepare, saying the point is to have supplies in the house to get through difficult moments. The practical calculation is simple: three days' worth of water comes to nine litres per person, so a household needs to plan that amount before adding food and the rest of the list.
For readers, the immediate step is to check whether the home already has water, tinned food, cash, a torch, a power bank and the other listed items. Burnham's case is that the right response is not alarm, but a cupboard that can carry a family through a spell of disruption.
