Labour and the Conservatives are now in an arms race of what we might class as “nanny state” policies. Both want to ban smoking and crack down on vaping, and both are coming out with policies intended to curb individual choice for the sake of public health.

Rishi Sunak, for example, has this week announced a ban on disposable vapes, and his Government recently hinted at limiting social media access for under-16s. Sir Keir Starmer recently announced his plan for supervised teeth-cleaning for children aged three to five, and Labour also plans to ban pre-watershed junk food advertising and vape ads aimed at children.

British politics has generally been drifting into the arms of nanny. After his near-fatal brush with Covid-19, Boris Johnson – who as London Mayor banned alcohol on the Underground – turned his focus to an anti-obesity strategy which aimed to ban daytime junk food advertising and buy-one-get-one-free deals (ideas canned under the Liz Truss premiership and delayed ever since).

Tony Blair, whose thinktank the Tony Blair Institute........

© iNews