Ban eating on public transport, says report

Eating on public transport should be banned and the sugar tax extended or the UK government will fail to meet its target to halve childhood obesity, a major new report says.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, the outgoing Chief Medical Officer for England, used her final report to demand bolder action from ministers, including stricter regulation of food companies that seek to manipulate children.

She called for the successful tax on sugary drinks to be extended to milk drinks that contain added sugar, such as milkshakes, and for ministers to consider plain packaging for unhealthy food.

And she said more must be done to stop youngsters being “dazzled by companies” offering junk food.

Her report puts her at odds with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has made clear his concerns over “sin taxes” and what he sees as “the continuing creep of the nanny state”.