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Labour unveils 'dossier of Tory failure' on child obesity

LABOUR unveiled a “dossier of Tory failure” on childhood obesity today, humiliating the government on the day it launches another drive to tackle the epidemic.

A ban on selling energy drinks to children is among a raft of measures proposed by the government to halve childhood obesity by 2030.

Other proposals include mandatory calorie labelling on menus, an end to unhealthy products at supermarket checkouts, and a 9pm watershed on junk food adverts.

But Labour reminded PM Theresa May that Britain has one of the worst childhood obesity rates in Western Europe.

More than one in five children in their first year of primary school are overweight or obese, rising to one in three by the time they leave primary school.

And according to The Lancet medical journal in 2011, based on current trends, half of all children will be obese or overweight by 2020.

Labour insisted that the government must reverse cuts to public health budgets if it hopes to fully fund its new measures.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The growing childhood obesity crisis is one of the starkest public health challenges facing our country.

“Yet the Prime Minister has overseen a dossier of failure when it comes to the health of our children.

“We now spend more money dealing with the health impact of obesity than we do on fire and police services combined.

“Cutting public health budgets has made a mockery of any determined preventative agenda. We need bold action not another watered down, lame-duck strategy.”

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