Obese people 'need to face up to reality' - Tories » Health » 24dash.com

Overweight people need to face up to reality to conquer obesity and live healthily, the Tories said today.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said it was time to "take away the excuses" so that overweight people started exercising and eating more fruit and vegetables.

Launching plans for a "Responsibility Deal" on public health between business and Government, the Tories said it was important to be positive about the "fun and benefits" to be had through healthy living.

In a speech entitled 'No nannying, no excuses', Mr Lansley will say today: "Tell people that biology and the environment causes obesity and they are offered the one thing we have to avoid: an excuse.

"As it is, people who see more fat people around them may themselves be more likely to gain weight. Young people who think many of their friends binge-drink are likely to do so themselves.

"Girls who think their peers engage in early sex are more likely to do so themselves. Peer pressure and social norms are powerful influences on behaviour and they are classic excuses.

"Our need, and not just in relation to public health issues, is to act on the environment, while fostering positive peer pressure and social norms. We have to take away the excuses."

The speech at think-tank Reform will mark the launch of a new working group - headed by Unilever chairman Dave Lewis - to consider various public health proposals.

The working group will consider supporting EU-wide plans for the compulsory labelling of Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) of calories, fat, salt and sugar on the front of food packs.

The Tories said they would focus on delivering an improved diet rather than a "narrow focus based on a fear of junk foods". The promotion of "traffic light" labelling would stop under a Conservative government.

The working group will also be asked to consider direct local business involvement in campaigns to promote exercise, community sport and healthy lifestyles.

It was important to empower local people and communities to promote healthy living in schools, workplaces, local clubs and through NHS services, Mr Lansley said.

"Legislation will be a last resort," he will say today. "Leadership, information and incentives and empowerment will be characteristic of our approach - no nannying."

He will also claim that public health has "dropped off the agenda" under Labour, as the targets for reducing health inequalities and reducing childhood obesity "exist, but will be missed".

Health Minister Ann Keen said the Tories offered "lots of warm words but with very little policy substance".

She said: "Everyone believes that individual responsibility matters. But the Tories are using individual responsibility as an excuse for their lack of effective policies in this area.

"By contrast we are committed to the £75 million 'Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives campaign' which encourages the public, supermarkets, retailers and local sports clubs to help people lead healthier lives."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said the Tory proposals were nothing more than a "pale shadow" of the Government's obesity strategy, published six months ago.

He said: "Andrew Lansley is proposing to do nothing that isn't being done already and saying nothing that hasn't been said before.

"This response lacks substance; it attacks the eminent scientists who drew up the Foresight report, substituting the science with the Tories' reactionary instincts.

"Seeking to tackle obesity on this thin gruel will get us nowhere".

Mr Johnson said Mr Lansley had recently written to him arguing for traffic light food labelling.

"Now he has changed his mind," he said. "Tory policy on obesity is changing faster than the traffic lights on Westminster Bridge."