Drought has been declared across seven areas of England including East Anglia, Hertfordshire and the whole of London, Thames Valley, Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, Devon & Cornwall, the West Midlands and Wessex, covering Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, and south Gloucestershire. According to the government, the current drought now means there have been three droughts in the past five years: 2022, 2025 and now in 2026.⁠ ⁠ Combined with three heatwaves and a fourth under way, including 12 consecutive days of temperatures above 30C, water storage has begun to deplete. The UK's National Farmers' Union (NFU) has warned that Britain could face food shortages amid record low rainfall and exceptionally high temperatures this growing season. The NFU has urged the government to offer farmers tax breaks to build water storage systems to help cope with water supply shortages. Meanwhile, supermarket bosses have called for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to urgently introduce a "Good Food Bill" aimed at im...