‘We need to tell people it is NOT acceptable to be obese’, Conservative peer says as he accuses Government of ‘pussyfooting around’ the issue

• Lord Robathan, 71, argued for a ‘more robust’ policy to tackle childhood obesity
• The ex MP urged the government to tell people it’s ‘not acceptable’ to be obese
• Lord McColl of Dulwich, also argued people should eat one meal less per day
• In England, one in five children leaving primary school are living with obesity

It is ‘not acceptable’ to be obese, a former Tory minister has said, accusing the Government of ‘pussyfooting’ around the issue. 

Lord Robathan, 71, argued for a ‘more robust’ policy during a debate in the House of Lords on how to tackle childhood obesity. 

The former MP said: ‘Isn’t it the case that we’ve had strategy after strategy, all well-intentioned, we all agree on what we want to do, but it’s not working – and the Government pussyfoots around this.

‘We need to tell people it is not acceptable to be obese and, if you are obese, your children think it is acceptable to be obese.

‘So, might we have a bit more of a robust strategy on this?’

Lord Robathan, 71, argued for a ‘more robust’ policy during a debate in the House of Lords on how to tackle childhood obesity 

Another peer, emeritus professor of surgery at Guy’s Hospital Lord McColl of Dulwich, argued that people should eat one meal less per day in order to lose weight.

He said: ‘As there are 40 million people who are obese in this country, marching inevitably to a premature death from a variety of very unpleasant diseases, would it be a good idea to encourage them to have one fewer meal a day?

‘Which might encourage the children to follow suit to have less calories into their mouth, which would help to prevent them developing type 2 diabetes before they’re 10.’

Health minister Lord Markham said: ‘I like to think we have an active strategy in this space.

‘Personally, I prefer carrot more than stick in this area, but again, I am prepared to learn from anything in this country or abroad.

‘If there’s evidence where stick works more than carrot, then I’d be welcome to look at that and see if we should be copying some of those.’

Another peer, emeritus professor of surgery at Guy’s Hospital Lord McColl of Dulwich, argued that people should eat one meal less per day in order to lose weight

He added that it was important people were clear about the recommended daily calorific intake, but that people could decide whether to skip a meal or spread it throughout the day.

Lord Robathan has been vocal on the issue of obesity in the past – once making an astonishing attack on ‘fat’ NHS medics at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tory Lord Robathan told the Lords in June 2020 that ‘a large number’ of overweight medical staff and teachers were setting a bad example to patients and children in the battle against obesity.

He told the upper chamber that such people needed to be ‘shamed’ into taking personal responsibility for their weight.

Tackling obesity is one of the greatest long-term health challenges currently faced in England.

Around two-thirds (63%) of adults are above a healthy weight, and of these half are living with obesity, according to government statistics. 

In England, one in three children leaving primary school are overweight or living with obesity with one in five living with obesity. 

Data from the Active Lives Adult Survey estimates that 25.3% of adults aged 18 and over were living with obesity in November 2020 to November 2021, which is an increase from 24.4% in 2019 to 2020 and 22.7% in 2015 to 2016 

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