Britain’s Be Ready Push Lifts Water Sales 67%: Paranoid or Practical?
Bottled water sales rose 67 percent and hand sanitiser 83 percent in the 10 days after the UK government launched its Be Ready campaign on October 22. Ministers call it practical preparation for storms and outages, while retailers report shelves emptying of torches and radios.
Sales of bottled water in Britain rose 67 percent in the 10 days after the government launched its "Be Ready" emergency campaign on October 22, according to retail research firm Worldpanel by Numerator. Whether the push is paranoid or practical is now a live debate, as households stock up on tins and torches.
Tinned and jarred food sales rose 37 percent and hand sanitiser 83 percent over the same period. Wind-up radios, torches and power banks have sold out at several retailers.
What the campaign asks
Be Ready is a three-year public information campaign run by the Cabinet Office. The October launch was its first stage.
The government wants households in England and Wales to cope alone for 72 hours if electricity, water, phone and internet services all fail in a national emergency. That would let emergency services focus on people who need urgent help.
The campaign website lists bottled water, long-life food such as tinned goods, dried fruit and nuts, a torch, spare batteries, a charged power bank and a wind-up or battery-powered radio. It also recommends cash, a first aid kit, medication, warm clothing and blankets.
Scotland and Northern Ireland get their own advice through Ready Scotland and NI Direct. More than 500 organizations, including charities, businesses and faith and community groups, have signed up to spread the message.
Why now
Officially, the focus is "everyday emergencies" such as storms, floods, wildfires and burst water pipes. It follows months of heatwaves, drought and fires across the United Kingdom this summer.
A Cabinet Office survey this year found only 13 percent of people said their household was largely or totally prepared. About 84 percent wanted more advice from the government.
A 2025 survey of 931 people by Bournemouth University's Disaster Management Centre found 52 percent felt they understood the hazards they faced. Some 21 percent said they were unaware of the risks, and 81 percent were willing to do more.
In September, the National Audit Office, the UK's spending watchdog, warned of threats to Britain's food supply chain. Ministers have also linked the campaign to the risk of cyberattacks and hostile state activity against critical infrastructure.
British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, the campaign's most prominent public face, says the government wants people to be "alert but not alarmed". On Remembrance Day, Defence Minister Lord Coaker said the 13 percent figure was exactly why the campaign had been launched.
Neighbors already doing it
The European Commission's Preparedness Union Strategy, adopted in March 2025, recommends that people be able to cope alone for at least 72 hours. Sweden posted 5.2 million copies of its crisis-preparedness brochure to households in November 2024. Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic run similar campaigns.
Official household preparedness guidance has existed since May 2024. What is new is the push to get people to act on it.
Shoppers have responded quickly. Supermarket chain Iceland said sales of tinned products rose 40 percent over the first weekend of the campaign.
