Labour vows to ban junk food ads during kids’ favourite shows

Adverts for junk food and sweets during TV programmes popular with children would be banned by a Labour government.

The ban, part of a proposed childhood obesity crackdown, would affect shows such as The X Factor, Hollyoaks and Britain’s Got Talent.

Adverts for unhealthy products high in fat, salt or sugar are already banned on children’s TV, but Labour wants to extend the ban to all programmes before the 9pm watershed.

The party is also promising to create a £250m-a-year fund to employ more school nurses with the aim of making UK youngsters the healthiest in the world.

Labour says its goal is to halve the number of overweight children within 10 years in an effort to curb the £6bn annual cost to the NHS of tackling obesity.

The party is also planning to match Theresa May’s pledge to tackle child mental health problems by boosting counselling services in primary and secondary schools.

:: Conservatives to tear up Mental Health Act

"The scandal of child ill-health is a long-standing, growing and urgent challenge," says shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth, who is launching the new policy.

"It should be matter of shame that a child’s health is so closely linked to poverty and that where and in what circumstances you grow up can dramatically affect your life chances."

He added: "When it comes to our children we should be ambitious. It’s time we invested properly in the health of the next generation. That means the sort of bold action we are outlining today to tackle obesity and invest in mental health provision.

"Labour will put children at the heart of our health strategy and put measures in place to make Britain’s children the healthiest in the world."

Labour claims the £250m child health fund would be paid for by halving the amount the NHS spends on management consultants each year.

But the Tories have hit back, with Public Health Minister Nicola Blackwood declaring: "Reducing childhood obesity is vital.

"That’s why the public health watchdog says that the childhood obesity plan we’ve put in place is the most ambitious in the world, and why we have one of the strictest TV advertising regimes of any country.

"But the truth is that families deserve more than unfunded promises from Jeremy Corbyn. We spent £3.4bn on public health programmes last year – that can only be funded by a strong economy which Corbyn would risk with his nonsensical economic ideas."

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, UKIP leader Paul Nuttall will be setting out his immigration policy, expected to include a "one in, one out" pledge to cut net migration to zero.

The Conservatives will say that new figures reveal that the Government’s Forces’ Help To Buy scheme has helped over 10,000 members of the Armed Forces get on or move up the housing ladder.

Tim Farron will be on board the Lib Dem battle bus as it heads to Scotland, seeking to win over voters who oppose both Brexit and Scottish independence.

Nicola Sturgeon is expected to say that Theresa May is prepared to sacrifice thousands of Scottish jobs because attracting UKIP votes is far more important to the Tories than Scotland’s relationship with Europe.

(c) Sky News 2017: Labour vows to ban junk food ads during kids’ favourite shows