Health ministers announced a new ban on junk food advertising today, as part of the government’s new push to reduce unhealthy lifestyles in order to save the NHS.

In a statement to MPs, Minister Andrew Gwynne set out that his department’s new mission to fix the country’s broken health service includes a new focus on preventative care, including reducing obesity, smoking and other unhealthy lifestyles.

The new junk food advertising ban will come into force in October 2025, and will be targeted at reducing childhood obesity.

In his statement, Mr Gwynne argued: “More than one in five children in England are overweight or living with obesity by the time they start primary school, and this rises to more than one-third by the time they leave.”

“We want to tackle the problem head-on and that includes implementing the restrictions on junk food advertising on TV and online without further delay.”

“We will introduce a 9pm watershed on TV advertising, and a total ban on paid-for online advertising.

Labour claims that these new restrictions will protect children from being exposed to unhealthy food at an early age, which may then influence their dietary preferences.

The new policy was announced shortly after Sir Keir Starmer delivered a damning speech setting out the scale of crisis in the NHS, and a new three-pronged mission to turn the health service around.

The Prime Minister said he feels a “profound responsibility” for fixing the health service, but also an opportunity to shore the health service up for many years to come with significant modernisation and efficiency improvements.

He argued that while the NHS “may be in a ‘critical condition, its ‘vital signs are strong’”, but warned the Government needs courage to deliver the necessary long-term reforms.

Sir Keir insisted that while the necessary reforms will not see the NHS deviate from its founding principle of free at the point of use, change is crucial and cannot mean the lazy answers of merely pouring more money into the existing bottomless pit.

The PM promised: “A Labour government will always make the investments in our NHS that are needed, but we have to fix the plumbing before turning on the taps.”

“Hear me when I say this: no more money without reform.”

He singled out money wasted on agency staff who cost up to £5,000 a shit, on appointment letters that arrive after the appointment, or paying for people to stay stuck on hospital beds because there aren’t adequate care facilities in local communities.

Following the publication of the damning Lord Darzi review, released yesterday, Sir Keir set out three “big shifts, three fundamental reforms” Labour will now embark on to fix the NHS.

Firstly bringing the NHS into the 21st century, with sweeping technical improvements to empower patients and give them greater control over their healthcare.

This will include a major update to the NHS app, which Sir Keir suggested could become a “digital front door” to the NHS and make appointments, self-referrals, and reminders for checkups much easier.

Secondly there will be a fundamental shift in care in hospitals to care in the community, allowing beds to become unblocked.

Thirdly there will be a big programme of preventative healthcare. As well as the aforementioned anti-obesity drive, Sir Keir singled out the problem of poor dental hygiene among children, as well as introducing NHS health checks in workplaces.

Blood pressure checks will also be carried out at dentists and opticians.

Sir Keir said that this is a 10-year plan, revealing he will require a second election victory in 2029 to implement it fully.

He added: “I know we can do it. We’ve done reform before.”

“Challenge. Change. And hope. Because the challenge is clear before us. The change could amount to the biggest reimagining of our NHS since its birth.”

Christopher Snowdon of the Institute for Economic Affairs think tank criticised the junk food ad ban, however, accusing Sir Keir of breaking his promise to “tread more lightly” on Britons’ lives.

He told the Express: “Sir Keir promised to tread more lightly on our lives but he is once again stomping on British business. This misguided ban has been repeatedly postponed because it will damage the economy and harm broadcasters in particular. It should have been ditched altogether.”