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I'll ban school vending machines, vows Berry
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard10.04.08
Green Party candidate Sian Berry today pledged to ban all junk food and vending machines from schools as she unveiled her mayoral manifesto.
She wants to make pupils' diets healthier by banning all genetically modified food in school diets as well as campaigning for a GM-free London.
Organic, vegetarian and vegan options will be available in schools as well as in hospitals and other public services.
She also wants to extend the free range poultry policy across the public sector and at public events. Existing allotments will be protected and 1,000 more will be introduced by 2012.
Farmers' markets will be encouraged to sell other local goods and produce and the aim is to increase the number of such markets to at least two per borough.
In her manifesto Ms Berry says: "London's food supply is currently highly unsustainable and does not provide healthy food for those who need it most.
"Around 80 per cent of London's food is imported from abroad and one third of all household waste is food-related. At the same time, four out of every 10 London children live below the poverty line and are unlikely to have access to nutritious food."
She added: "Our health depends on what we eat, but all the Government does about it is nag us. Meanwhile there's a 10-year waiting list for allotments, and farmers' markets and small food businesses are closing down. We'll give real support to local, healthy food.
Greens on the London Assembly have already set up London Food to increase the amount of local food we eat. With more assembly members we can do much more, including 1,000 more allotments by 2012, at least two farmers' markets per borough, stringent planning rules to increase open space including food gardens, and funding for food co-ops and community food initiatives."
Action on Londoners' diets is one of Ms Berry's many policies, which also feature an emphasis on cycling, more energy efficient homes and 60 per cent affordable housing. Another large part of the manifesto concentrates on recycling-with the establishment of a single waste authority for London rather than letting each borough act individually.
Under Ms Berry the waste authority would ensure all households get comprehensive weekly doorstep recycling and composting collections.
Support would be given for a new law to ban plastic bags and a money-back scheme would be started for containers returned to retailers. The Green Party has also pledged to look after small businesses, helping them compete against chain stores. Ms Berry said: "Smaller businesses put more of their profits back into their community, building-economic as well as environmental sustainability. And we all prefer having a wide range of unique businesses, instead of empty ghost-town high streets and big-box retail parks.
"So it's about time our community did more to help these businesses to compete against the multinationals.
"One thing I would do as mayor or assembly member is make sure that all new large developments made half their floor space available for small businesses at affordable rents.
"We need to defend our high streets, not let them be abandoned or swallowed up by identikit shopping centres, and we need to do more to support small and local manufacturers."
Although polls indicate that Ms Berry has minimal chance of winning on 1 May, Ken Livingstone has strongly indicated he will give her a job if he wins.
The two Green Party members on the London Assembly have been successful in pushing through policies, including tripling the annual budget for cyclists and walkers.
Reader views (7)
I have sincere doubts that any concerned parent would want their children to be eating loads of junk food at home; the same principle applies to school as well. Yes, there are exceptions, but good parents try to make it so their children get a healthy diet and exercise. The school's choices are not everything, but they can either help or hinder these parents; what Sian is suggesting is that they help.
If you really want your child to have junk food, then that's not a problem; there's nothing to stop mums from bringing bags of fish and chips or sending their children to school with enough sugary drinks to make a gallon of ethanol. But no one said the school was obliged to support such behaviour.
- Christian, West Sussex
Is it just me, or does a promise to ban 'junk from schools' and 'throw vending machines out' have a earily familiar feel to it? Perhaps a good investment for some of the candidates would be to pay a few hundred pounds for someone to research the current reality in their electorate? For the information of the candidates, in September 2005 the government began discussing healthier provenance in schools, on the 19th of May 2006 they released a white paper recommending the removal of crisps, chocolate and soft drinks from schools and on the 1st of September 2007 enacted legislation banning such products from state funded schools. Vending machines can now only sell pure juices, milk based products with less than 5% added sugar, water, water and juice mixes in which more than 67% of the content is pure juice, unsalted seeds and nuts, and yoghurt based drinks. Great stuff!. So, now that the candidates have successfully dealt with the pressing issue of junk food in schools making kids fat - they can move on to the next big issue on their socially responsible agenda.
- Carey Benn, London
Some kids become obese because they don't get enough exercise, so Sian Berry wants all to take away all school pupils' freedom of choice about what to eat.
This kind of overreaction is typical of modern left-wing politicians - and make no mistake, Berry is on the left.
I support much of what the Greens say on environmental issues, but their stance on most other issues puts me off voting for them, either in the mayoral or general elections.
And to those wondering whether Berry is opposed to the EU: she isn't. The Greens are very much in favour of the EU and I'm sure Berry wouldn't compromise that over a few London mayoral promises.
So the things she's just mentioned are hot air anyway.
- Robert Cunningham, Harrow, London, UK
This article heavily misrepresents the Green campaign.
Proudly emblazoned at the head of the article is the commitment to ban vending machines and junk food in schools. And yet, for the Greens, it's a peripheral policy at best. It occupies one small corner, less than two full lines long, of a manifesto stretching well beyond ten pages.
It's not Sian's first concern either - nor is it a new one, for the Greens or anyone else. This isn't a new policy originating from the Green party. The removal of vending machines is almost a standard part of improving schools. Any school hoping to be awarded the prestigious Healthy Schools award must get rid of them. All this commitment does is to bring London in to line with accepted national policy.
Meanwhile, key policies such as those on local businesses are relegated to the nether end of the article - as if they didn't matter. Far from it. The Greens are absolutely committed to fostering strong local economies in London. The motor of these local economies are their small businesses, which provide far greater community value than many larger corporations. It's virtually one of the core messages.
I'm sure (I'd like to hope, anyway) that this strange representation of the Greens is down to a lack of understanding rather than any deliberate bias. But it looks shoddy.
- Doug, London
Your report says that the Green candidate for Mayor is pledged to "ban vending machines" if elected. She would be barred by law from interfering in schools if elected, and removed from office for misuse of GLA resources if she spent a penny trying. And EU laws make clear you cannot make London GM free. GM is an EU competence and the EU (lobbied by big business) has made its own decisions - even Westminster may not interfere and has no powers in this area, never mind a London Mayor. Is she campaigning, like us, to leave the EU? It's the only way she can achieve this. She is also barred by EU procurement laws from discriminating against suppliers from anywhere in the EU for, say, something like catering provision at something like the Olympics. Again she could be removed from office if you wilfully broke these laws. In the unlikely event that she were elected, it would be like July 1553 all over again, although the reasons why Lady Jane Grey was removed after only 9 days as Queen were a bit more complex than the provision of school snacks. Hopefully they'd treat Sian a bit better and The Tower, opposite City Hall, would not be pressed into service.
- Damian Hockney Am, London
More nonsense. Kids have been eating "junk food" for years but only now overweight children are becoming the norm, why? because they have nothing to do apart from eat, play video games and watching endless hours of tv. The government have failed to make the population feel safe and secure in public areas and even in their own homes so kids are now under house arrest; getting less exercise and less social interaction with other children.
- Cassandra, uk
Well done for attempting to address the needs of small businesses. Government statistics show that two thirds of all new jobs in London have been created by self-employment or small companies. It has been forecast that London will need 800,000 new jobs.
With the current policy of relocating government departments outside London and the financial sector planning to shed 10,000 jobs in the coming months, where are these additional jobs are going to come from if the Mayor does nothing to help small businesses ?
- Gerry Grifftihs, SE London
