Tories plan to lose obesity regulation

Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary, will claim in a speech that a Responsibility Deal struck up between businesses and the government could help to address the situation and encourage consumers to eat larger amounts of food and drink.

"Our need, and not just in relation to public health issues, is to act on the environment, while fostering positive peer pressure and social norms. We have to take away the excuses," he will say.

There ought to be an emphasis upon people having an improved diet instead of a "narrow focus" centred on being scared of junk products, the Conservatives are to suggest.

Moreover, a Tory government would banish the traffic light system of food labelling currently favoured by some supermarkets and the Food Standards Agency.

Earlier this year, the British Retail Consortium said that proposed new government regulations unveiled in a bid to solve obesity are not needed because retailers are already promoting new strategies.