Delay to junk food ads ban could ‘blow a hole’ in UK obesity strategy
The decision to delay a ban on supermarket offers, including “buy-one-get-one-free” deals on junk food, could “blow a hole” in the government’s obesity strategy, a former health minister has warned.
Amid rising concern about food costs, it emerged on Friday that the government will delay a ban on multibuy deals for foods deemed unhealthy or fattening. It will also pause plans to ban pre-watershed TV advertising for foods high in fat, salt or sugar.
It is understood that the prime minister, Boris Johnson, decided to delay the implementation of the policies by at least a year – and potentially scrap them altogether – after chairing a ministerial meeting to find ways to alleviate the cost of living crisis on Wednesday.
Lord Bethell, a former health minister, piloted measures to ban multibuy deals before he was sacked in last year’s reshuffle. He said failures to stop people eating junk food will increase the number of people needing NHS treatment.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I am concerned that it will blow a hole in the obesity strategy. That has a massive follow-on effect on all of our health targets.
“More people are getting cancer due to obesity-related effects. So the cancer 10-year plan, the extra five years of longevity and many more of our health targets are damaged by this.
“All of this illness that is caused by [being] overweight from junk food is being carried by the NHS and by the taxpayer.
“We do need to account for all of the costs of the obesity crisis in this country, and it is one way of mitigating those costs without actually banning things or taking more extreme measures.”
The government published its strategy to tackle obesity in July 2020, noting that one in three children leaving primary school
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