Henry Dibbley’s verdict is still bad news for Boris Johnson, as the White Paper is a direct response to last year ‘s wide – ranging review of the British food system, led by the restaurateur. Johnson’s plan was hailed as the first such plan since it was published 75 years ago, placing England as a leader in food and the environment in a post-Brexit world. But the final design removes many of Dimbleby’s key recommendations. “It’s not a strategy,” said food chain founder Leon of the final document, which was presented to him. “It does not define a clear vision of why we have the problems we have now and it does not define what needs to be done.” The document, which will be introduced in the House of Commons by Environment Secretary George Justis on Monday, is virtually unchanged from a leaked draft unveiled by the Guardian last week. In his paper, Dimbleby made a number of high-profile proposals, including a significant expansion to free school meals, higher environmental standards and agricultural prosperity, and a 30% reduction in meat and dairy consumption. Instead, the few specific policies the government has chosen include increasing domestic tomato production and making it easier for deer hunters to sell wild deer. Diblby said the cost-of-living crisis meant there was an even greater need for free school meals than when he unveiled his plan, which required up to 1.5 million more children in England to receive them. “With inflation as it is, both the amount spent on free school meals is significantly smaller in real terms than it was a year ago and the number of people who need it is significantly higher – we have to deal with it,” he said. Dimbleby. “I hope it is examined, people are inflated into poverty and food providers do not produce healthy meals,” he warned. He was also critical of one thing that changed between the draft seen by the Guardian and the final version, which was the lifting of commitments to facilitate the introduction of food with high animal welfare and environmental standards. He said: “Once again the government has raised the issue of how we do not just import food that is environmentally harmful and cruel to animals – we can not create a good system of fair agriculture and then export this damage abroad. “I thought the government would deal with it, but it did not.” Dimbleby’s recommendations on nutrition and public health, such as the use of the sugar and salt tax to fund health food choices for the poor, were also ignored, turning it into an upcoming White Paper on health inequalities. “There was really nothing there about health,” Dimbleby said. The plan also has no ambition to reduce meat consumption, with the Dimbleby report pointing out that 85% of farmed land in the UK is used for either animal feed or meat farming. “They said we needed alternative proteins, but they did not mention the inevitable truth that meat consumption in this country is not compatible with a farming system that protects agriculture and traps carbon,” he said. Opposition parties have also expressed concern. Jim McMahon, Labor’s shadow secretary for the environment and food, said the government had “absolutely no ambition” to deal with food price crises. He said: “This is nothing more than a statement of vague intentions, not a specific proposal to address the great issues facing our country. “Calling it a diet strategy borders on the absurd.” Tim Faron, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesman for rural areas, said the lack of protection over food standards for imports risked being “an absolute betrayal of British farmers”. He said: “Many times Boris Johnson promised one thing and then did the opposite. It just shows that this government can not be trusted to defend rural communities. “ Food TV presenter and climate activist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall condemned the lack of any plan to reduce meat and dairy consumption, calling it “just lazy and disgusting and degrading to the food industry’s status quo.” Rob Percival, head of food policy at the Soil Association, said: “It seems that what broke this strategy was not a lack of good intentions but a narrow-minded ideology that believes the government should not intervene to reshape diets.” Louisa Casson, head of food and forestry at Greenpeace UK, added: our planet. he cooks on his own. “ Announcing the diet plan, Johnson described it as “a plan to support farmers, strengthen British industry and help protect people from the effects of future economic shocks by protecting our food security”.
