Britain has 'no plan' to feed the country in a crisis, more than 150 experts warn Burnham

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026.

More than 150 academics, business leaders and community organisations have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham warning that the UK is "woefully inadequate" in preparing for food shortages. The letter says Britain has "no plan" to feed the country if a crisis strikes, with climate change, cyber-attacks, geopolitical shocks and energy outages all threatening food security. Ministers scrapped the national strategic food stockpile — held since the Second World War — in the 1990s and have never replaced it. The experts warn that ordinary households cannot afford to stockpile food themselves, leaving the country dangerously exposed.

The letter accuses the government of being 'complacent about food as a national security matter', warning that food supplies 'can be weaponised'.

The experts are calling on Burnham to establish national, regional and community food storage schemes, along with local food resilience committees operating under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

'The public has been led to assume that food will simply be there — it may not be,' the letter warns, signed by Professor Tim Lang of City St George's University of London and Professor Paul Behrens of Oxford University.