Ban on junk food and vape adverts proposed

A clampdown on junk food, sugary drinks and vapes advertising is being considered across the whole Liverpool City Region.

Mayor Steve Rotheram wants to use his powers to promote healthier advertising on publicly owned assets such as trains, ferries and buses as part of a push to promote healthier lifestyles.

Rotheram last year joined other UK mayors in supporting chef Jamie Oliver's #AdEnough campaign calling for an end to harmful junk food marketing in public spaces.

He said the authority was "putting a stop" to children being surrounded by adverts for products that damage their health.

It comes after some local authorities, including Sefton Council, enforced their own bans.

Rotheram said: "Where adverts appear on publicly owned infrastructure, they should work in the public interest.

"In some of our communities, children are growing up surrounded by adverts for products that damage their health – we're putting a stop to that.

"Too many families are living with the consequences of poor diet and ill health – and it's no coincidence that the most impacted communities are often the poorest."

He said: "I don't think it's right that, in places people rely on every day, including advertising sites across the bus and rail network, we normalise products that we know are causing harm.

"By using the assets we control, we're sending a clear signal about the kind of city region we want to be: one that puts people before profit, backs healthier choices and is serious about tackling the deep health inequalities that dramatically limit people's lives."

Junk food adverts appear six times more often in the most deprived parts of the city region, where children are 40-50% more likely to have excess weight than their peers in less disadvantaged areas, according to the area's combined authority.

Prof Emma Boyland, from the University of Liverpool, said children's diet and food preferences are formed at an early age so the sooner you can encourage them to consume healthy stuff like fruit and vegetables and less processed foods the better.

"It can make a really meaningful difference to their trajectory of health across their life," the deputy dean for the institute of population health said.

The plan goes before a meeting of the combined authority on Friday.

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