'Alert but not alarmed': Streeting defends his call for Britons to stockpile three days of food and water against scaremongering claims

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting warned that cyber incidents like the critical PHP flaw now troubling most websites will happen "more and more". The 'Be Ready' checklist tells households to keep bottled water, tinned food, cash and a wind-up radio. Government research found only 13% of people feel prepared for a major blackout. The campaign will run on radio and social media for three years.

Streeting asked: "How would we cope if the payment systems at the local supermarket went down?"

He blamed potential supply-chain disruption on "hostile state actors or terrorists".

The three-day survival idea is borrowed from France, Ireland and the Netherlands.