Labour will not rule out banning the government HFSS restrictions to take place next year, according to Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

The UK government announced in May that restrictions on multibuy deals and advertising foods allegedly high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS) are to be delayed for a year, and the restrictions banning HFSS adverts on TV before 9.00pm will now come into force in January 2024.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that introducing these measures would conflict with the rise in energy and food prices.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Streeting said that he had “upset a lot of public health campaigners” when he said it would be “tin-eared” to introduce the HFSS regulations now, considering the food inflation prices.

Streeting said, at a Fabian Society event on Tuesday [27th September], that he was not ruling out tougher regulation of unhealthy food once the cost-of-living crisis had eased.

He added: “I’ve not said not ever, I’ve been very clear in saying not now.”