Step up to the plate: new UK PM Andy Burnham faces complex food-policy picture

Frequently asked questions

• What are the food and drink industry’s biggest asks of the Burnham administration?

  The sector’s priorities, as reflected by the Food and Drink Federation and its joint work with the National Farmers’ Union, the British Retail Consortium and UKHospitality, cluster around the fundamentals that determine whether businesses can invest, hire and expand capacity. One major ask is relief from sustained cost pressures, which in recent years have been driven by energy, labour, logistics and regulatory friction. Another core request is planning reform that is more permissive and predictable. When approvals are slow, uncertain or costly, the industry says the result is underinvestment in productive assets and a weaker ability to respond to demand shifts. Skills and workforce availability is the third pillar. The trade bodies are pressing for a UK-wide workforce strategy because labour pressures are not confined to one part of the chain. Finally, the industry is asking for an approach to UK-EU trade that reduces friction without importing new costs elsewhere. That is especially urgent because the EU remains the UK food and drinks sector’s largest market, and the legacy of Brexit-related checks and paperwork continues to weigh on exporters and importers.

• Will devolution and “taking power out of Westminster” change how food and drink businesses invest and grow?

  Devolution could be significant if it translates into faster, more joined-up decision-making across the whole food system, from R&D to manufacturing to hospitality and retail. The argument made by industry analysts is that food is the UK’s largest industrial sector by scale, yet it has been overlooked in strategic policymaking. A more devolved model has the potential to correct that by enabling regions to build integrated growth plans that reflect their specific strengths, such as processing clusters, university research capability, farming profiles, logistics networks or tourism-driven hospitality. For businesses, the potential upside is practical: access to regional growth initiatives, more responsive partnerships with local authorities, and the ability to shape investment priorities closer to where factories, farms and stores actually operate. If devolved structures can align planning, skills provision and infrastructure investment, the sector may find it easier to expand sites, recruit and train talent, and collaborate with research institutions to commercialise innovation. The caution, however, is that devolution is not new in the UK and its economic impact has been mixed. Simply moving powers around does not automatically deliver growth or reduce regional inequalities.

• What new health and HFSS policies could the industry face and how should businesses respond?

  The direction of travel is towards tighter health-driven regulation, particularly around products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS), even if the pace and prioritisation may vary under the new Prime Minister. The Health and Social Care Committee has called for accelerated action to reshape a food environment it believes pushes consumers towards HFSS products. Proposals include strengthening advertising restrictions to cover brand advertising, banning outdoor HFSS advertising on a defined timetable, and changing promotion and placement rules so healthier options such as fruit and vegetables are given more prominent positioning both in-store and online. Alongside those recommendations, there is a push for mandatory reporting on healthy food sales by supermarkets, with targets and penalties overseen by the Food Standards Agency, and for mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling, with a preference for traffic-light labelling by 2028. Separately, a ban on the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s is set to come into force from April, indicating that youth-focused interventions remain politically saleable. Businesses that invest in reformulation capabilities, credible nutrition science and product development that delivers taste and value while improving nutritional profiles are better placed to adapt without losing consumers. At the same time, the industry will continue to argue that regulation alone cannot deliver better diets.