Act now on sugar or I will ‘go ninja’, Jamie warns PM
JAMIE oliver yesterday threatened to ‘go ninja’ and try to get David Cameron out of power if he fails to take tough action to cut child sugar consumption.
The celebrity chef and healthy eating campaigner said he would be ‘really, really upset’ if ministers did not slap a tax on sugary drinks or take other firm measures to combat child obesity.
on BBC1’s Andrew Marr show he urged the Prime Minister to act ‘as a parent, not a politician’ and ‘be brave and be bold’ to ‘shift Britain’. on t he same programme Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt described childhood obesity as a ‘national emergency’ and ministers are now expected to l aunch l ong- awaited new measures within weeks.
oliver vowed that if they do not go far enough he will ‘change strategy, get more ninja, go a bit more underground and a little bit less nice and try and get them out of power as soon as possible, because child health has to be central to a healthy, prosperous economy’.
He said the war on obesity demanded a ‘game-changing moment’, adding: ‘I don’t mind not getting a tax if there is something better and more symbolic, because what we need is a change.’
Health officials have recommended a levy of up to 20 per cent on sugar-filled products, but critics decry this as a ‘nanny state’ measure that would make food too expensive for poorer families.
Agreeing that firm action is needed, Mr Hunt said that by
‘What we need is a change’
the time his own one-year-old daughter grows up a third of the population will be clinically obese if trends continue.
‘We are the most obese nation in the EU and it is getting worse,’ he warned. ‘The issue here is to do what it takes to make sure children consume less sugar. We have got parents up and down the country who want to know they are going to be given the support they need to make sure their children eat healthily.’
The Prime Minister ruled out a sugar tax as recently as october but made a surprise U-turn and Mr Hunt insisted it was still ‘on the table’.
‘David Cameron has said if it isn’t a sugar tax, it needs to be something equally robust, but he hasn’t taken a sugar tax off the table,’ he said.
Last night oliver’s comments were attacked by Tory MP Andrew Percy, who sits on the Commons health committee.
He said: ‘We don’t have Government in this country by TV chef, especially not when they issue threats. The British consumer has never been more informed about what they are eating and the evidence for a sugar tax simply isn’t there.
‘Multi-millionaire chefs might not be worried about their food bills going up as a result of this, but normal hard-working Brits will be.’
As well as a tax, ministers are said to favour moves by food firms to cut sugar content.
The Department of Health said: ‘It is shocking and unacceptable that one in three children l eave primary school either overweight or obese. Being obese can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, mental health issues such as depression, and some cancers.
‘We have already brought in a total ban on the advertising of junk food during children’s TV.
‘our childhood obesity strategy will look at everything, including sugar, that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese.’