Delay for ban on junk food TV ads ‘very disappointing’, says George Osborne

George Osborne has called it “very disappointing” that a ban on junk food TV adverts has still not been introduced.

The Conservative former chancellor, who backed calls for the Government to go further on tackling obesity, also hit out at the “Tory dance” over free school meals.

Speaking on an edition of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme guest edited by TV chef and campaigner Jamie Oliver, Mr Osborne said: “We wanted to ban the advertising of junk food or overly sugary food for programmes that kids might see.

“That still has not been implemented. To my mind, that’s very disappointing.

“And as someone who’s a member of the Conservative Party, Conservatives should not be afraid of sensible use of government to improve people’s health because, by the way, that also reduces dependency on public services down the road.”

Successive governments have failed to introduce a long-promised ban on pre-watershed TV advertising for junk food, with Rishi Sunak’s new administration announcing earlier this month that the anti-obesity measure will not come into force until 2025.

Mr Osborne, who was chancellor in David Cameron’s government from 2010 to 2016 and introduced a tax on sugary drinks, said he would go further if he was still in office.

“I would extend the sugar levy to non-sugary products. And I would actually go ahead with that ban on advertising because I think that’s been well-versed now for many years and I think would be a good thing,” he said.

The former MP also criticised his own party for its approach to free school meals, as he was pressed on Oliver’s call for an expansion of the scheme.

He called it a “very complex problem”, but said the “overall objective” was good.

In a reference to England footballer Marcus Rashford’s high-profile campaigning on the issue, Mr Osborne said: “It may well be in my mind – I’m not active in politics today – but that providing for better free school meals for a much larger group of the population is the right way forward.”

“And certainly, I think the current kind of Tory dance of like, ‘no, no, no’, and then a footballer jumps up and says ‘yes’, and they go, ‘all right’, is not a good one politically for my party.”

Oliver also received support from Labour former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, who told the programme it was vital for governments to focus on children’s health and wellbeing.

“This is absolutely fundamental. I honestly don’t think there’s anything more important for the future of the country but to make sure we deal with this – early years education and wellbeing.

“The vast majority of families will feel a responsibility to feed, to clothe, to look after their children properly. But the reason we have services – the reason we created, for example, the SureStart system – was in order to be a support mechanism that allows them to do that better and easier.

“And particularly today, when the pressures on families are enormous, and when there are levels of poverty that we really haven’t seen in the country for a long period of time.

“For the sums of money you’re going to spend on this early years, if you really have the will to do it, I promise you, having been in government, you could find the money necessary to do this.”

He urged the TV chef to “do it as you did it before, which is to sit down with political leaders from both political parties and get them to make the commitments”.