Junk food and vaping adverts would be banned from airing before 9pm under Labour plans

Labor will ban junk food and vaping advertising before 9pm, despite warnings the move will be ‘bad for business’.

Sir Keir Starmer ruled out a further ‘sugar tax’ on unhealthy foods, but said restricting companies’ ability to market such products to children is an effective way of taking preventative measures.

He said a sugar tax during the current cost-of-living tightness would only “raise the burden” on struggling families at the moment, but action on advertising could be taken “very simply and very easily” .

A ban on advertising was originally proposed under Boris Johnson’s government as part of his crackdown on obesity.

But some Tory MPs rejected the ‘sitter state’ plan to block online junk food ads, claiming that ‘people need to take responsibility for their own health’.

As a result, plans to restrict when foods high in fat, salt and sugar can be advertised on TV and online were postponed by ministers until October 2025.

He said: “We will stand up to the social media companies that foist dangerous misogyny on our children. I say very clearly to those who profit from harming our children – no, not in Britain.

“Today we will go into that further. We will change the advertising rules and ensure that products that are harmful to our children’s health – vaping, junk food, sugary snacks – are not advertised to our children. No – not in Britain.

‘The focus we are putting forward today is purely based on advertising.’

But Chris Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs said: ‘This policy is already in the statutes but has been delayed due to the state of the economy. There will never be a good time to introduce it.

It’s bad for business, bad for consumers and bad for broadcasters. There has never been a satisfactory definition of “junk food”. A ban would prevent a huge range of perfectly normal foods from being advertised on television and online at any time before 9 p.m.’

Over the weekend, the Labor leader’s frontbench team said public policy would be used to prevent ill health under a Labor government.

The party’s health spokesman, Wes Streeting, told The Times Labor was prepared to use “the heavy hand of state regulation” to force food and drink companies into action.

He said the soft drink industry levy was “undoubtedly one of the most effective government interventions on public health among the Conservatives — about one of a handful.”

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting greets Starmer before delivering his speech at the Labor Party conference on reforming the NHS

The levy, also known as the sugar tax, adds 18 pence per liter to the price of soft drinks with between 5 g and 8 g of sugar per 100 ml, and 24 pence per liter for soft drinks with an even higher sugar content.

Shadow Minister Liz Kendall said: “We will look at shifting from events to prevention.”

New research yesterday for the Obesity Health Alliance found that eight out of 10 adults support a ban on advertising unhealthy foods to children on TV and online.

The new YouGov survey of more than 2,000 people for the Obesity Health Alliance found that 79 percent support a TV ban on unhealthy foods for children, while 81 percent said the same about online.

The poll also found that 68 percent would support food companies being taxed for unhealthy foods if the money was spent on children’s health programs.

Similarly, 79 percent think the government should do more to ensure healthy food is affordable during the cost-of-living crisis, while 77 percent think the money raised from the current sugar tax on soft drinks should be used directly for funding programs aimed at improving children’s health.

Professor Phil Banfield of the British Medical Association said: ‘Labor needs to move forward in at least three key areas if they are to have a lasting impact on the health of the country: stricter regulations on the smoking, alcohol and gambling industries, alongside junk food, restore funding for public health services and establish a cross-departmental goal to improve health and address health inequalities.”