UK tells households to stock water and tinned food as Streeting warns of 1,000-day war deadline

Britain's defence secretary has put a number on the clock. Wes Streeting says the country has a little over 1,000 days to get ready for war, pointing to 2030 as the moment adversaries could be strong enough to strike. Writing in The Telegraph, he argued their desire to harm the UK isn't new, but their capacity is, warning that force strength and a war economy could soon put them in position to attack.

That deadline shapes the mission he set out: to be ready with allies to fight and win. He also pointed at Russian aggression, saying that to prevent the worst, Britain has to prepare for it. He described the threat as real rather than hypothetical, and increasingly here rather than somewhere else.

Alongside the military message comes a household one. The government's 'Be Ready' campaign is urging every Briton to stash nine litres of bottled water and three days' worth of food to ride out a weather, cyber or other critical emergency. The shopping list also includes blankets, cash, a first-aid kit, a torch with batteries and a wind-up FM radio.

Streeting said homes and businesses need to be asked whether they're prepared, and framed national resilience as sitting right next to national defence. According to the Independent, prime minister Andy Burnham pushed the same idea on the BBC, saying it isn't about panicking but about sensible measures to tide people over in a difficult situation.

Earlier this month, MI5 director general Sir Ken McCallum called for a whole-of-society effort to protect national infrastructure. He warned that hacks could knock out banking services, drones could disrupt flights, and cyber attacks on hospitals could hurt patient care. He also said planning assumes the calmer geopolitical stretch after the Cold War is over and these risks will endure.