It’s a year since the government published plans for a “generational change” in England’s relationship with food, through a long-awaited food strategy. Then food minister Daniel Zeichner promised a “healthier, more affordable, sustainable, resilient food system that restores pride in our British food culture”.
The fact that 12 months on virtually nothing of any note has resulted is as much because of how simultaneously vague, ambitious and frankly unachievable its aims were, as much as it does about all the political and economic upheaval.
The food strategy was blunted even before its 10 lofty aims were announced, with PM Sir Keir Starmer scrapping plans for a food white paper to be published this year. Later, Zeichner himself was ditched from Defra in a ruthless Starmer reshuffle, despite having won plaudits for his commitment – though it’s fair to say he had not articulated or driven any ideas to move the dial on health, sustainability, farming or growth.
Now with a new PM set to enter No 10 on Monday, there is huge speculation about what former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham may do when it comes to food strategy and health, including such diverse, and potentially competing, priorities as tackling the cost of living crisis, taking on junk food firms and creating more jobs for young people.
So could a clue be in the latest discussions of the Food Strategy Advisory Board that was set up by Labour to help formulate policy? While the food strategy has gone deathly quiet, talks have continued and last week’s discussions suggest there’s been a rethink. Minutes reveal that the board has come up with a slimmed-down set of priorities, to mould the ‘Good Food Cycle’ envisaged by Zeichner into a more practical plan.
Like the original aims, it will still include ideas for intervention and incentives around the same issues. However, the group also agreed any such measures would “need to identify clearer priorities, gaps and measures of progress for the next phase of delivery”, including “how to manage trade-offs between health, affordability, growth, food security and sustainability”.
The IGD, as secretariat of the discussions, is working with Defra to develop a collaborative plan with clearer priorities and actions that build on the existing Good Food Cycle framework.
It is too soon to say what Burnham’s view will be on this, but at the FSAB meeting the possibility of a Good Food Bill was posited as offering “potential opportunities”.
It was The Food Foundation that led calls for the introduction of a Good Food Bill back in February. Among the 100 signatories were major health charities and Food poverty groups, but also the Co-op (a retailer close to Burnham’s heart), M&S, Danone and Bidfood. And this week’s addition of Sainsbury’s to the list suggests a groundswell of opinion. So if Burnham did want a way to make an early mark on food policy, one that would chime with his clear interest in helping those suffering from food poverty, this could be an area where he may act. The challenge, of course, is how the bill translates into actual deliverable policies. Labour 1.0 has failed dismally to turn its ambition for the food strategy into action. Can the new Manchester version do any better?
No comments yet