Both the bosses of M&S and Asda have criticised Labour’s proposals to force supermarkets to reduce the calories in customers’ baskets or potentially face fines.
The new plan, which form part of Labour’s upcoming 10-year plan for the NHS, looks to cut 100 calories per average shopping baskets, which health secretary Wes Streeting said would “make the healthy choice the easy choice” for customers.
While Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts praised the plans earlier in the week, the boss of Marks & Spencer Stuart Machin and executive chair of Asda Allan Leighton have both been critical of Labour’s plans.
Speaking to The Telegraph, M&S’ Machin said the proposals would “likely add cost [to businesses] with no discernible improvement in public health”.
Asda chair Leighton warned ministers to “consider the cumulative regulatory burden and costs supermarkets are already bearing” before implementing the plans.
While both supported plans around supporting customers in developing healthier eating plans, both Machin and Leighton also said that the government had failed to develop the plans with the industry.
“Engaging us collectively and genuinely to meet the challenge of rising obesity would harness that expertise to deliver tangible and lasting outcomes,” Leighton said.
Machin added that M&S “would love to share our learnings with the government and support a joint industry effort”.
The M&S boss also explained that he was frustrated by the fact that the new rules seem to only target supermarket.
“The easy opt-out is to target supermarkets, when almost half the public use takeaways and fast-food weekly. And it is just plain wrong they are ignoring alcohol, which is also calorie dense,” he said.
“We were supposed to have a detailed food strategy that looked at the food system end-to-end – instead it appears we’ve got rushed engagement on a Friday afternoon to support headlines in the Sunday papers.”
Leighton said: “We are supportive of prevention and our role in delivering it. We – the supermarkets – are part of the solution, not the problem”.
Ministers have said that the proposed changes in the plan will cover all food businesses, including restaurants and fast-food restaurants.
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