Former food tsar Henry Dimbleby has welcomed the government’s new Food Strategy as a major step forward, but said it will be “worthless” without commitment to delivery from No 10.
Dimbleby said he believed Defra’s strategy, despite its lack of detailed policy announcements, had for the first time created the basis for a joined-up policy to tackle the fundamental problems facing the food system.
As revealed by The Grocer earlier this week, plans for a food white paper to be published next year, to pave the way for policies and regulation to back up the Food Strategy’s 10 key objectives, were shelved after intervention from No 10.
Responding to The Grocer’s report, Dimbleby urged PM Keir Starmer to “step in” to show the whole government backed the plans.
Dimbleby said that while the strategy brought with it “no front-page headlines, no big policy pledges”, it laid the foundation for the action needed on health and the environment.
“What it does do is join the dots,” he said.
“Until now, the government’s food progress has been promising but piecemeal – for example, extending free school meals to families on Universal Credit, mandatory reporting for retailers, protecting most of the environmental land management budget, and letting councils block new fast food outlets near schools,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“That staccato approach wasn’t all bad: sometimes you need to be tactical and shoehorn your policies into other announcements to get them over the line.
“But this document sets out a proper ambition. It signals intent to fix the system itself. With the exception of Michael Gove’s agriculture reforms, the previous government was all over the shop when it came to co-ordinated change.
“This time they’ve identified the root of the problem. They reference the broken feedback loops we highlighted in our work – the junk food cycle and the invisibility of nature. And they say they want to create a ‘Good Food Cycle’. A flattering nod to our work.”
However, Dimbleby said he was alarmed at the revelation ministers had scrubbed the idea of a white paper from the strategy, after its inclusion in a draft version.
“The Grocer reported that earlier drafts included a white paper to put changes on a statutory footing,” said Dimbleby.
“That’s now gone – likely a sign of internal wrangling and that turning these outcomes into good policy and then into law will be a battle.
“To guarantee success, the prime minister needs to step in, ensuring Whitehall stays aligned long enough to land the policies that will really move the dial. Because ambition is worthless without delivery.
“And if they fail? Their growth targets will be missed. Record numbers of people will continue to languish on long-term sick leave. The NHS will buckle and they can kiss their social justice ambitions goodbye.”
2 Readers' comments