Combating UK obesity crisis should be your 'personal mission', MPs tell Burnham

MPs have told Prime Minister Andy Burnham to make combating Britain’s obesity crisis a "clear personal mission".

It comes as MPs criticised government plans to "launch a moonshot" to tackle the crisis, saying they "lack detail".

The Commons Health and Social Care Committee expressed that it has "no faith" ministers will deliver on the strategy.

Although calling the objective "laudable", committee members cited an "ongoing lack of detail on what the moonshot is and how it will be achieved".

Last year, ministers published a 10-year health plan for England containing commitments to enhance public health.

Key to the strategy is a pledge to "launch a moonshot to end the obesity epidemic", including restrictions on child-targeted junk food adverts, banning high-caffeine energy drink sales to children, and mandatory healthy food sales reporting for large food companies.

While the strategy originally promised to "reform" the soft drinks industry levy to prompt reformulation, this was later changed to "consider reforms".

The committee urged ministers to "clearly define what ending the obesity epidemic means, including an overall target for reducing rates of obesity and relevant milestones" supported by an action plan.

“The Government last year declared its bold ambition to end the obesity epidemic, but it lacks a cohesive, coherent plan,” said committee chairwoman Layla Moran.

“An ambition without a plan risks sounding either naïve at best, or insincere at worst, and is bound to fail.”

She added: “The Government’s plan must tackle problems upstream and downstream. That’s why improving the care pathways and access to treatment must be twinned with determination to change the food environment.

“That will mean standing up to the food industry on numerous points – regulating the constant presence of adverts and promotions for unhealthy food and drink that wallpaper our lives, simpler labelling on products, targets for supermarkets to sell more healthy foods and restricting fast food outside schools.

“This issue transcends government departments and experience tells us that if the Prime Minister isn’t calling the shots on such a huge, societal issue, the loose ends won’t join up and the moonshot will crash-land.

“We urge him to take up this ambition and be the driver of change. In turn, the NHS, public health and the economy will reap the long-term benefits.”

NHS figures suggest three in ten (30%) adults aged 16 and older were obese in 2024, and 66% were either overweight or living with obesity.

Last week, MPs on the committee published a report calling for the Government to reassess the rollout of weight loss jabs on the NHS.

They warned that current plans for rolling out weight-loss drug Mounjaro on the NHS “are unambitious” and reach a “woefully small number of people”.

Only around 6% of eligible people will get or currently receive Mounjaro (a GLP-1 weight loss drug) on the NHS in its first three years, with millions more turning to private firms, creating a two-tier system for access to the drugs, they added.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have already restricted junk food advertising on television before 9pm and online, banned volume-price promotions on less healthy food and drink products, and given councils stronger powers to block new hot food takeaways near schools.

“Alongside our focus on prevention, we are supporting those already living with obesity by expanding access to weight management support, including NHS weight loss drugs for those with the greatest clinical need.

“We will carefully consider the Committee’s recommendations and respond in due course.”

Earlier this year, it was found that the UK has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe.

The report predicted 220 million children globally will be obese by 2040 if no drastic action is taken.

In 2025, about 180 million children worldwide were obese, but according to figures from the World Obesity Federation’s ATLAS 2026, there will be about 228 million children aged 5 to 19 living with obesity in about 14 years.

About 3.8 million children between the ages of 5 and 19 years in the UK have a high BMI, meaning they are either overweight or obese – that’s around twice as high than the number of children who are overweight or obese in France and Italy.