Agriculture Bill (Fifth sitting)

Chris Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2018 Public Bill Committees

[Dr Drew]

I thank my hon. Friend, because that is exactly the point we are making. This concerns not only obesity but its consequences, such as the rise of diabetes, which has doubled over the past 20 years. I am told—although I cannot source this—that the UK already has the most ultra-processed diet in Europe. I think that means we eat too much fast food, which the Bill must recognise is a huge public health issue.

Despite the title of the White Paper, “Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit”, health has been marginalised. That is disappointing. Health should be central to the whole debate on the food we produce, who it is produced for, and whether it is affordable.

[Chris Davies (Brecon and Radnorshire) (Con)]

I am interested in the direction of the hon. Gentleman’s remarks. Does he agree that this is about production, and that everything is either safe or dangerous depending on moderation? Moderation is key here; not how we produce food, or why we produce it, but eating it in moderation.

[Dr Drew]

I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, but it is also an issue of distribution and who is able to afford certain types of food. Clearly we are trying to move the debate towards ways that we can encourage people to eat better food and maybe less of it, which we will not manage unless we can talk about those issues in the Agriculture Bill Committee. It is not just about domestic production, but where other food comes from. We have a very successful export industry, but we import a huge amount of food from abroad that we could substitute through domestic production.

Health is paramount. I do not have to say anything other than mention the sugar tax, where we have intervened directly to decide what people can have as part of their diet. That is true of the tax on fizzy drinks that has been introduced. We must recognise that the Government are setting public health standards, and all that we are saying is that they should be included in the Bill. This is something that will come back again, because I am sure there will be people who will say—certainly on Report and at Third Reading—that this has been a lost opportunity if we do not include public health standards at this stage. It will certainly come back again in the Lords, because there are people who feel very strongly that the health aspect of agricultural production and distribution is really important.

[Chris Davies]

I am sorry to intervene yet again, but I am interested in the hon. Gentleman’s line of direction. Could he give an example of food produced in this country that is not healthy?

[Dr Drew]

The interesting thing is that we have introduced a sugar tax. We produce sugar beet, and the tax has had an impact on that industry.

[Chris Davies]

So we should not produce sugar?

[Dr Drew]

We should produce sugar, but we should put a tax in place to determine the amount of sugar in products. I have a producer of fizzy drinks that has had to go through the whole process of taking the sugar out—it used to do that but then put the sugar back in; it no longer does that. I will not mention it by name, but it has been quite an impingement on the business. It did that because that was what it was told to do. We do not want to be overzealous in how we treat the production of food, but if we do not do something about it, the consequences will be dire. There are consequences at the moment, with so many people suffering from obesity.