UK government tells households to stockpile tins and bottled water, Burnham defends three-day crisis kits as storms cut power to thousands in Cornwall, paymaster general admits he has not followed his own advice

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Prime minister Andy Burnham will celebrate 100 days in office on Tuesday (Reuters) Reuters

The British government has issued households a checklist of emergency supplies — nine litres of water per person, tinned food, a wind-up radio, blankets, a power bank and cash in case payment systems collapse — and Prime Minister Andy Burnham has defended the advice as the country braces for what he called a possible winter of greater flooding.

The recommendations, intended to see families through three days of crisis caused by war, cyberattack or natural disaster, were published as Storm Austen knocked out power to more than 16,000 homes in the South West, with more than 5,000 of them on the priority register for vulnerable customers. A gust of 76mph was recorded at St Mary's Airport on the Isles of Scilly. A second storm, Boelo, prompted a fresh amber warning covering Scotland, the Northern Irish coast and northern England.

Burnham, marking 100 days in Downing Street on Tuesday, denied the campaign amounted to the state offloading its own responsibilities. "We are having the conversation with people about being better prepared because we're living in a world where unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common," he told reporters in Liverpool, where he had convened a summit on responding to the summer's record wildfires.

The message has landed awkwardly. Paymaster general James Murray told BBC Breakfast he keeps a stockpile of coffee at home but conceded: "I'm not going to pretend I've followed all that advice myself yet." Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has joked that her own survival kit would include a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Burnham, asked about the wine, said people need a clear head in a crisis — "but I'm sure people are allowed a glass or two as well."

The government points out that stockpiling at home is normal in Ireland, France and the Netherlands. What it does not say is why Britain, with one of Europe's largest states per capita, now needs its citizens to plan for the collapse of payment systems. The advice followed days after a security flaw in widely used software disrupted online services across the country — a disruption the checklist implicitly assumes will recur.

Voters are not yet persuaded either way. A YouGov survey of 5,394 adults on October 22 found 23 percent saying Burnham has met their positive expectations and 23 percent saying he has done as poorly as they anticipated — with one in three of those who expected him to do well saying they have been disappointed. Polling expert Lord Hayward called the verdict "adequate so far, but untested," and noted that the Budget Chancellor John Healey delivers the day after the 100-day mark is, from what is being heard, "not governing — it is delaying."

Healey has already warned that departments will have to manage with the budgets they have, including pay rises for doctors and nurses.

The state that promised security from cradle to grave now advises tinned meat, wet wipes and a torch.