Coffey: Companies privately admitted net-zero policies increasing cost of food

Food companies refused government requests to adjust their net-zero policies during the cost-of-living crisis, despite admitting they increased consumer costs, according to a former deputy prime minister.

Baroness Coffey said ministers appealed for the firms to make changes to their 2030 ambitions during the “national emergency”, but they were told “no” in reply.

The Conservative peer later described herself as “super obese” and a “classic example of failure” as she encouraged the Labour Government to pursue policies which will deliver action on tackling obesity rather than developing more strategies.

During when food inflation was rising, we had food companies admitting in private that their policies of pursuing net zero by 2030 were definitely increasing the cost of food to families right across the country.

Lady Coffey served as work and pensions secretary, health secretary and environment secretary in the administrations of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak respectively.

Conservative former health minister Lord Bethell also labelled junk food companies a “leech on our public finances” and claimed they are a “threat” to national security and public finances.

Their remarks came during a House of Lords debate on a report by the Food, Diet and Obesity Committee entitled “Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system”.

The committee suggested the Government makes a “decisive shift” away from policies based on individual responsibility and towards “bold” measures including increased levies and stronger regulation.

Lady Coffey said the focus should be on changing habits and noted “starting young is a key element”, adding there is a key role for local government because of their health workers and approach to planning permission for takeaways.

She also told peers: “In terms of thinking about the needs of families, we have to remember about the cost-of-living challenge that people face.

“During when food inflation was rising, we had food companies admitting in private that their policies of pursuing net zero by 2030 were definitely increasing the cost of food to families right across the country.

“And when we challenged them about changing that while we had this national emergency, quite simply the answer was ‘no’.

“Now that was a concern to me, but appreciated that trying to legislate change or some new strategy simply would just add to the very long list and, as a consequence, going into the Department of Health as I did, was accused of all sorts of things at the time, despite the fact that we had a series of strategies.

“So we sat down, looked at the impact assessments of all the different bits of legislation and tried to prioritise which was going to make the most difference.”

Lady Coffey said this is why proposals such as “banning buy one, get one free was not necessary” during a cost-of-living crisis.

She added she hopes the updated food strategy from the Labour Government would adopt a “systemic approach of trying to achieve the outcomes” desired by peers.

Lady Coffey, in her concluding remarks, said: “I’m speaking as someone who is super obese, you may not believe this about 20 years ago I actually lost eight stone. I really did that by not eating or drinking alcohol, pretty much that was it, I can’t pretend it has stayed off, far from it.

“It’s not a lack of desire and as I said to the health officials when I went in, I’m a classic example of failure, what has gone wrong.

“It wasn’t the nutritionists who told me or advised me to eat more carbohydrates – what was it? This is still a journey and I believe there are many good recommendations but I encourage the strategy by the Government to focus on delivery not more strategies, not more laws that actually distract from getting the job done.”

The junk food giants should be regarded as a leech on our public finances.

Party colleague Lord Bethell raised correspondence he had with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), explaining: “They wrote to me that the rising tide of chronic health conditions linked to obesity is increasing the years that people spend in ill health and that is having a material impact on our ability to sustain the national debt.

“The army cannot recruit fit soldiers, our businesses cannot find fit workforce and our communities are struggling to cope with obesity-related poor health. We simply cannot go on like this.”

He added: “The junk food giants should be regarded as a leech on our public finances, a free rider that is not paying for the externalities that they create and a threat to both our national security and to our public finances.”

Lord Bethell added “hard regulatory guardrails” are needed, with the junk food industry taken “out of the conversation”, similar to the approached adopted on tobacco.

Health minister Baroness Merron said there is a “need to tackle the root causes” of obesity and highlighted ongoing work.

The minister also said Lady Coffey had reminded peers of the “challenge for individuals, not just the system”, adding: “I appreciate how personally she told of those challenges.”

Lady Merron said: “Noble Lords are eager to see progress and so am I.

“I am conscious that we’re not dealing with a new problem, an unexpected problem but one that has been allowed to develop over many years so our reaction to that, our action plan has to be properly designed, policies consulted on, we need to remove barriers to implementation and set out a clear path and a timeline for delivery to avoid delay and uncertainty.”