As the longest-serving health secretary since the formation of the NHS, Jeremy Hunt is perfectly primed to tackle our poor diets in the upcoming Spring Budget, writes Dr Dolly van Tulleken
As you read this, the Chancellor is likely to be whittling down his list of policy options before the Spring Budget in five weeks. And as the longest-serving health secretary since the NHS was established in 1948, Jeremy Hunt is well aware of the economic consequences of low productivity and inactivity.
Poor health is bad for business and bad for the economy. Winston Churchill once said “healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have”. It is impossible to have a healthy, resilient and thriving economy without a healthy population. But today the UK’s health is in decline and our economy is suffering. Earlier this month, the Health Foundation launched its new Commission for Healthier Working lives: their analysis showed that 2.6m working-age people in England and Wales are out of the labour market due to poor health, the highest number in recent decades. And a further 3.7m working-age people are in work but limited by poor health in the type or amount of work they do.
Why are we so unhealthy as a nation? Almost all the health conditions driving economic problems are driven by poor diets. The UK’s diet is one of the most ultra-processed in the world. Unlike our European neighbours with their more protected traditional diets, a typical British adult gets around 60 per cent of their calories from ultra-processed food (UPF). For children, it is even more. UPF has a complex scientific definition but is easily identifiable as it contains ingredients rarely found in a domestic kitchen (emulsifiers, preservatives and so on); it is often high in fat, sugar and salt.
From your lunchtime sandwich to your afternoon snack bar, UPF is hard to avoid. High consumption is linked to almost every major health condition, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and obesity. That’s a problem: a quarter of children now leave primary school in England with obesity whilst 64 per cent of adults are obese or overweight.
The Tony Blair Institute recently published new modelling showing that the cost of obesity and the overweight to the UK has risen to £98bn, including £15bn in lost economic output. Our diets are making us and our economy sick.
It is rare but powerful when a chancellor intervenes on health policy: eight years ago, George Osborne introduced the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, one of the most effective dietary health policies in recent history. Hunt was watching on as health secretary at the time.
Citizens overwhelmingly reject nanny state concerns as an excuse used by politicians for inaction.
Whilst the rise of obesity drugs such as Wegovy may be tempting, the danger here is the government ends up spending vast quantities of money on a fraction of the eligible population only to send them back to the conditions that made them sick in the first place. . This will make it easy for everyone to stay healthy, eat well and be productive.
Politicians typically shy away from public health interventions, fearing nanny state accusations and succumbing to industry lobbying. However, last year the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission found that citizens overwhelmingly reject nanny state concerns as an excuse used by politicians for inaction. Poll after poll confirms the majority of the public wants government action on food to protect health.
So, whatever policies Hunt considers, he should embrace his inner-Churchill, dismiss nanny state accusations and draw upon his unique cabinet experience to put our health and the economy’s health first.
Dr Dolly van Tulleken is a policy consultant and researcher