Inaction on ill-health prevention after pressure from junk food and alcohol firms ‘could cause NHS collapse’
Labour has scrapped ambitious plans to tackle Britain’s growing toll of lifestyle-related illness after lobbying by food and alcohol firms, health experts have said.
Ministerial inaction on ill-health caused by bad diet, alcohol and smoking is so serious that the NHS could collapse as a result of conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, they warn.
Bold pledges Labour made before being elected to drive through a “prevention-first revolution” have been replaced by “diluted ambition” and a lack of leadership on the scourge of avoidable disease.
The charge against ministers has been made by Sarah Woolnough and Jennifer Dixon, the chief executives of the influential King’s Fund and Health Foundation thinktanks.
