Nicola Blackwood (pictured) said tackling Britain’s addiction to sugar will require a ‘revolution’ and ‘generational change’
Britain is suffering from a sugar addiction that will require a revolution to break, the public health minister warned last night.
Nicola Blackwood, who is in charge of the Government’s childhood obesity strategy, said British children’s consumption of sugary food and soft drinks is among the highest in Europe.
‘We have developed in the UK an addiction to sugar,’ she told the Commons Health Committee.
But she said tackling it will require a ‘revolution’ and ‘generational change’ that cannot be achieved by the Government alone.
During a fiery hearing, MPs on the select committee demanded to know why the long-awaited obesity strategy had been watered down before it was announced last summer.
They asked why a planned ban on junk food advertising before 9pm had been shelved, and why stronger rules forcing companies to reduce sugar had not been introduced.
Labour MP Luciana Berger said: ‘Why didn’t you fight harder to ensure we had the best possible obesity strategy for the future of our country? We are not going in the right direction, our children are getting bigger.’
Mrs Blackwood insisted the current strategy is one to be proud of, with firms asked to reduce sugar by 20 per cent by 2020 and a sugar tax planned for soft drinks.
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‘We should be very proud of what we have done as a country,’ she said.
‘No country elsewhere has come up with a reformulation plan like we have, no other country has introduced a producer-led tax like we have.
‘This is genuinely a world-leading programme. We do recognise it has taken generations to build up the obesity challenge which we face in the UK – that is why this is the beginning of the conversation, not the end.’
Labour’s Heidi Alexander said in most shops people feel surrounded by offers on cheap sweets and confectionery.
She added: ‘For people to say that we’re moving in the right direction doesn’t feel that way at all.’
Labour’s Heidi Alexander said people are surrounded by cheap sweets and sugary products
Mrs Blackwood said the sugar tax and sugar-reductions targets will ‘effectively reduce the intake of soft drinks and sugar, which is among the highest intake of anywhere in Europe for our children in the UK’.
She added: ‘But we have developed in the UK an addiction to sugar.
‘When I look at this as a minister, I know there is no way I am going to achieve this as a Government top-down strategy imposed on everyone.
‘The only way we are going to achieve this is by partnership working, between Government and industry and schools and health select committee working together to try to deliver this.
‘It is genuinely a generation change we are after, I hope this is the beginning of a revolutionary change. But it is a large-scale change we are after.’
Professor Paul Dobson of the University of East Anglia, also addressing the committee, poured scorn on the voluntary nature of the strategy.
‘Those measures will fail,’ he said.
‘They will fail because they are not targeted, they are relying on one-to-one agreements over it as opposed to industry requirement to do it.
‘There is no stick here. What is the threat if you don’t comply?’
Public health experts last night called for the Government to go further.
Professor Russell Viner, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, commenting after the hearing, said: ‘With one in five 5-year olds and one in three 10-year olds overweight or obese in the UK, and the figures showing no signs of improving, tackling childhood obesity has never been more urgent.
‘It was encouraging to see robust questioning by committee members on the lack of new marketing restrictions in the plan – a glaring omission.
‘We want to see a ban on all advertising of junk food and drink prior to the 9pm watershed, not just those programmes targeted at children.’
Mrs Blackwood added: ‘I want us to break our addiction to sugar and high-calorie foods.
‘I don’t want us to have the same relationship with food in ten years’ time as we have now.
‘I hope this obesity strategy is our first step on breaking that addictive relationship we have with high-sugar, fatty, high-calorie foods.’