The United Kingdom will ban junk food advertising during the day as part of the fight against childhood obesity in a country where state intervention in such matters is criticized as an intrusion into private life.

Specifically, the government plans to ban advertising of overly fatty, overly sweet or overly salty foods before 9 p.m. on television and universally on the Internet.

The introduction of the ban, which was part of Labor’s election manifesto that brought Keir Starmer to power in July, is scheduled for October 1, 2025the British government confirmed.

Reactions to the childhood obesity measure

The announcement comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his intention to reform the public health system, which is in deep crisis, prioritizing prevention.

“More than one in five children in England are overweight or obese before starting primary school and that rate rises to one in three by the end of primary school,” Andrew Gwynne, the Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, said in a written statement tabled in Parliament.

The measure “will help protect children from advertising for less healthy food, which evidence shows is influencing their dietary preferences at a very young age.”

Those restrictions had been proposed by Boris Johnson’s Conservatives but were delayed to give industries in the sector time to adjust.

The Labor government is also planning other measures to boost prevention in the health sector, such as a ban on energy drinks for under-16s.

Reactions

Such measures are criticized in the United Kingdom by a section of public opinion that considers them an infringement of individual freedom. Many conservative media outlets are already today denouncing the Labor government’s intention to form a “nanny state».

The think tank The Center for Young Lives, in a report published today, calls on the government to “ignore nanny state naysayers and increase taxes on sugar, mainly to improve children’s dental health”.