Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer recently announced plans to tighten restrictions on high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) products in the UK, specifically proposing a 9pm TV watershed for advertising HFSS treats. In his keynote speech on the National Health Service (NHS), Starmer confirmed this move alongside other public health plans. He also emphasized his strong view that sugary foods should not be advertised to under-18s. The ruling Conservative government had planned to limit HFSS advertising before 9pm in April 2022, but they have delayed the ban to October 2022, then January 2024 and most recently, to 1 October 2025.
Starmer ruled out imposing a tax on HFSS foods as a means of tackling the nation’s obesity crisis. Instead, he proposed online restrictions on such products, stating that “we will change advertising rules and we will make sure that products which are harmful to our children’s health: vaping, junk food, sugary snacks, cannot be advertised to our children.” He added that he intends to prevent those who profit from harm to children in the UK, saying that “it’s bad for their health, and bad for the NHS.”
Barbara Crowther, the children’s food campaign coordinator for Sustain, welcomed the commitment to prioritize ensuring a healthy childhood in the UK, and to implement regulations to protect minors from junk food marketing. Katharine Jenner, director of the Obesity Health Alliance, also hailed Starmer’s pledge and noted that consumer research showed that about 80% of UK adults support an advertising ban, while nearly 70% would support extending the sugar tax to other products. Mhairi Brown, policy, public affairs and international project lead for Action on Sugar and Action on Salt, encouraged the government to find effective measures to incentivize the food industry to reduce the sugar and salt in their junk food products.
Although an election is at least a year away, Starmer’s Labour party is expected to introduce these restrictions, at the earliest, in January 2025. Despite concerns about additional price hikes amid the cost of living crisis, Labour’s proposed measures aim to target the UK’s obesity crisis and achieve a healthier nation.
