The Guardian - 24.07.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:16 Edition Date:190724 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 23/7/2019 19:17 cYanmaGentaYellowb

• The Guardian Wednesday 24 July 2019

(^16) National
Doctors call
plans to end
smoking and
improve diet
inadequate
Denis Campbell
Health policy editor
Doctors and health experts claim
government plans to boost public
health are too weak to deal with
problems such as obesity, smoking
and alcohol misuse that are claiming
tens of thousands of lives a year.
The green paper on prevention of
ill-health in England, which ministers
slipped out quietly on Monday even-
ing , includes proposals to end smoking
by 2030, make food healthier and stop
under-16s buying energy drinks.
But experts today criticised the
package of measures as inadequate,
given the number of people dying
avoidably from cancer, heart attacks
and strokes linked to smoking and
bad diet.
“With health inequalities in Eng-
land widening and life expectancy
improvements stalling, this green
paper amounts to a missed opportu-
nity ,” said Jo Bibby , director of health
at the Health Foundation thinktank.
“Overall the paper falls a long way
short of the comprehensive shift in
approach needed to create healthier
lives for people in England.”
The document outlines an ambition
for everyone in England to have gained
fi ve extra years of healthy life expec-
tancy – free of disease or disability

• by 2035. However, Bibby warned
  that without much tougher govern-
  ment action to tackle the underlying
  causes of so much ill-health “it could
  take as long as 75 years – not 16 – to
  reach this goal”.
  Labour accused Matt Hancock,
  the health and social care secretary,
  of “kicking [the green paper] into the
  long grass” by telling Theresa May that
  it should not be published so close to
  her stepping down. The prime min-
  ister insisted it was put out , but it
  only appeared on the gov.uk website
  early on Monday evening , and with
  no attempt made to alert the media.
  “A year ago the secretary of state
  said, to great fanfare, that preven-
  tion was one of his priorities. Now
  the prevention green paper has been
  sneaked out in the night on the Cabinet
  Offi ce website,” Ashworth said.

“Is it not the truth that he has buck-

led under pressure from the sugar

industry, is not taking on the alco-

hol industry, and is not taking on the

tobacco industry? That is more about

trying to get in with the new prime

minister than putting the health needs

of the nation fi rst,” he added.

Hancock replied that Dame Prof

Sally Davies, the chief medical offi cer

for England, was reviewing the evi-

dence on what policies do help to

counteract obesity and will report later

this year. The paper also proposes that

the sugar tax on soft drinks could be

extended to sugary milk drinks and

suggests ways to cut salt consumption.

Prof Andrew Goddard , president

of the Royal College of Physicians,

lamented its “dearth of imagination”,

adding: “Perhaps the biggest omission

is a clear understanding of the link

between poverty and ill health.

“While individuals have a responsi-

bility to look after themselves, there is

something about the way our society

is structured that produces that

imbalance.”

The British Medical Association said

the paper should have included plans

to introduce minimum unit pricing of

alcohol and legally binding limits on

air pollution.

David Buck , a public health expert

at the King’s Fund, criticised the

“shabby way” the paper emerged ,

while the Royal Society for Public

Health welcomed the document’s

“ambitious goals” but urged minis-

ters to embrace more radical public

health policies.

Seema Kennedy , a health minister,

said the government’s plans would

help the NHS change from being a

treatment-based service to one more

focu sed on prevention.

However, it is unclear whether the

new leader, Boris Johnson, will act on

the paper’s proposals given his general

hostility to more interventionist meas-

ures to improve public health.

‘The paper falls a

long way short of

the comprehensive

shift needed to create

healthier lives’

Jo Bibby

Health Foundation director

Swinson says

Lib Dems will

not work with

Labour party

under Corbyn

Rowena Mason

Deputy political editor

Jo Swinson, the new Liberal Democrat

leader , has again ruled out working

with Jeremy Corbyn, branding him a

Brexiter who cannot be trusted to fi ght

for a second EU referendum.

She said her door was open to MPs

from other parties who wanted to work

towards a second referendum. But she

said the Lib Dems could not join a pact

with Labour while Corbyn was leader,

even in the event of a hung parliament.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today

programme, Swinson was scathing

about Labour’s Brexit approach, even

though the party has now said it would

support a referendum on any deal.

“There is nothing to suggest Jeremy

Corbyn can be trusted on Brexit or that

he will campaign to remain,” she said.

“Let’s remember in the last referen-

dum he went on holiday for two weeks

in the middle of it. Forgive me for not

believing his mealy-mouthed words

on Brexit. He can barely bring himself

to say the words ‘people’s vote’ .”

She added: “There are plenty of

people in Labour that I can work

with, that I do work with. But Corbyn

is a Brexiteer. He cannot be trusted on

Brexit ... and to boot he is somebody

that is failing to deal with the scourge

of antisemitism in his own party.”

Swinson said she was talking to

some Conservative MPs about the

possibility of defecting to her party.

She defended her record in the coa-

lition , saying: “ We achieved a lot of

good things in government ... [but]

there were mistakes made as well.”

Journal Frances Ryan Page 4 

▲ Jo Swinson became Lib Dem leader

on Monday after a vote by members

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