(Pic from http://dummr.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/corporate-fat-cat-pic/) In a classic British Tory Party move, the Coalition Government today announced that it would not impose regulations on the food and alcohol business to reduce their impact on the health of the nation's citizens but rather ask them to fund a government campaign for healthier lifestyles. Cronyism at its finest. Check this:
In a move condemned by campaigners as the government "rolling over on their backs in front of the food lobby", Lansley told a conference of public health experts that he wanted a new partnership with food and drink firms. In exchange for a "non-regulatory approach", the private sector would put up cash to fund the Change4Life campaign to improve diets and boost levels of physical activity among young people.
The time had come, said Lansley, to accept that "lecturing or nannying" people to change their behaviour did not work. He said business people "understand the social responsibility of people having a better lifestyle and they don't regard that as remotely inconsistent with their long-term commercial interest". (rotfl)
Lansley added: "No government campaign or programme can force people to make healthy choices. We want to free business from the burden of regulation, but we don't want, in doing that, to sacrifice public health outcomes."
Health campaigners said they were "horrorstruck" at Lansley's remarks. "This is nothing other than a bare-faced request for cash from a rich food and drink industry, to bail out a cash-starved Department of Health campaign. The quid pro quo is that the department gives industry an assurance that there will no regulation or legislation over its activities," said Tam Fry, a spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum.
The forum took issue with claims by the health secretary that his hands were tied on many aspects of food regulation, including the level of saturated fats, because of European rules. Fry said this was "simply untrue". "Denmark, America have all used laws, or the threat of laws, to get the industry to move."
Conceived by Labour, the Change4Life campaign was costed at £75m over three years and was already backed by industry, with high street names such as Tesco, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Pepsi all offering expertise and support. However, Lansley is proposing a radical scaling back of the public contribution to allow "charities, the commercial sector, and local authorities to fill the gap".
Lecturing and nannying people won't work as won't any Government campaign yet Lansley's only solution is ... a government campaign devised under the previous Labour administration. Really. Did UK voters expect any different from a Tory Government whose motto has always been "Look after business because it will keep you in power. The people are not to be trusted."
