Why we're determined to help busy shoppers

It is vital that all adults have the right to make decisions for themselves about their health and the food they eat. But they also have the right to some help from government.

Most of us have busy lives, do not have much time to read the labels on food we buy and would need a PhD in biomedicine - and a couple of hours - to make sense of their complexities.

Busy mums want these labels to be clearer, and have the right to expect they will be. And that is what we will do. We must make sure busy shoppers have a simple labelling system making it easier for them to see at a glance how individual foods contribute to a healthy balanced diet.

To achieve this, the White Paper makes clear we have asked the Food Standards Agency to work up a voluntary code that will simplify these labels.

We would really like to do this with the agreement of the industry, as the voluntary way is by far the best means of achieving this. However, if it is true the industry is optimistic the plan will be abandoned, I want to tell Standard readers that the industry will be disappointed.

We will not abandon the nation's busy shoppers. But better, simpler labelling will not on its own prevent consumers from buying anything - just give them more information.

So we will work with the EU and use the British presidency to ensure that Europe as a whole will provide simple nutritional labelling, making it mandatory on packaged goods. Last week the Tories turned this into a political issue in their health manifesto.

They said: "We do not believe food producers are to blame if people eat unhealthily, or that pubs are to blame if people drink or smoke. Therefore we will seek voluntary, not statutory solutions to public health problems."

The Tory manifesto makes clear they have already caved in to industry lobbyists. They do not want to provide consumers with any information at all. They want to give the industry the right to confuse rather than inform us.

This goes beyond the issue of food labelling to the advertising of food to children. Once we have a clear labelling system we can change the rules on advertising to children by helping mothers to resist the "pester power" of their kids.

We will restrict further the advertising and promotion to children of those foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt and sugar.

We should never tell parents what their children should eat - but we should do everything to help them.

So I will deliver the White Paper and - however hard the lobbying against it - we will still be on the side of consumers and parents.