Why you need cash, not baked beans

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Emergency Preparedness Advice

Jacob Rees-Mogg argues that government advice to keep three days’ worth of emergency supplies could cause unnecessary alarm and overlook a more likely risk. In his view, a serious disruption would be less about food disappearing and more about systems for ordering, distributing and paying for goods failing, particularly after cyberattacks.

He suggests keeping some cash on hand for short-term outages, along with a cheque book and paper copies of bank statements and important financial, insurance and property records. He cautions against keeping large sums of cash at home, while noting that gold could be an additional safeguard for those who are especially concerned.

Rees-Mogg also favours a petrol-powered car, which he believes may be more practical during an electricity or cyber disruption. For morale, he humorously suggests keeping a bottle of sparkling wine.

Presenter: Jacob Rees-Mogg