Householders to be told how to prepare for major emergencies in new government public information campaign

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 17:10, 14 July 2026 | Updated: 17:10, 14 July 2026 Labour is to launch a new public awareness campaign on what steps members of the public should take to prepare for an emergency. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones said the campaign would help people prepare for crises such as cyber attacks or severe weather. It will also provide advice on how to prepare for other catastrophes that could lead to water, power and internet outages. Mr Jones said in a written statement to MPs: ‘I can announce that the government will launch a national resilience public awareness campaign later this year, in order to inform the public of the small but important steps they can take to be prepared in case of emergencies and disruption – be that severe weather or a cyber attack which can impact access to power, water, phone signal or local shops to get food.’ It comes after ministers in the previous government suggested households should stock up on candles and battery-powered radios in case a future disaster crippled digital gadgets. In December 2023, the then deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden urged people to prepare for being thrown back to an ‘analogue’ era if internet and power systems collapsed. Mr Dowden indicated people had become too reliant on the internet – such as through their mobile phones – which could leave them isolated in an information vacuum during a future disaster. The advice was included in an official government website launched in 2024 – prepare.campaign.gov.uk - which offers wide-ranging advice on how to prepare for natural disasters, pandemics and malicious acts such as cyber attacks or terrorism. The website advises householders to ‘write down important phone numbers on paper and store them somewhere easy to find in a power cut’. It also urges people to put together an emergency kit at home, including a battery or wind-up radio, a portable power bank for mobile phones, a first aid kit, water and non-perishable food.