British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is plotting a vast expansion of the nanny state to ‘save the NHS’.
The government will bring forward measures including a ban on junk food advertising on social media, as well as prohibiting children from buying energy drinks, following a damning report on the state of Britain’s National Health Service.
In a sign that ministers want to try to ‘cure’ the public of bad behaviour, the government also confirmed that they would press ahead with a 9 p.m. watershed for junk food ads on television—originally proposed by Boris Johnson in 2021.
In a speech on the future of the NHS, the Starmer said: “I know some prevention measures will be controversial, but I’m prepared to be bold, even in the face of loud opposition.
“So no, some of our changes won’t be universally popular, but I will do the right thing for our NHS, our economy, and our children.”
Promising even more nanny state measures in a ten-year health plan next spring, Starmer said he was “absolutely convinced” that the government had to do more. “Of course, there’s diet, there’s healthy lifestyle, etc.—we are going to have to get into that space,” he said.
Starmer has already pledged to ban smoking in pub gardens as well as make it illegal for anyone born after 2009 ever to buy cigarettes—something originally planned by former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Meanwhile, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which will ban disposable vapes to tackle “the scourge of vaping amongst teenagers”, will be introduced to Parliament within the coming weeks.
However, freedom of choice campaigners have condemned the plans.
Christopher Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs said the prime minister is “not going to reform the NHS. He is going to try to reform the public.”
Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, meanwhile, said the plans should “leave any Brit who believes in individual responsibility and choice aghast.”
Nanny state intervention is a slippery slope. Whether that’s through the introduction of daft and impractical 20mph speed limits in Wales, which are fine outside schools, but make little sense elsewhere, or trying to put taxes on takeaways because Big Brother thinks they are bad for you.
