He resigned from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) after more than five years in the post. According to Diabetes UK, Type 2 diabetes costs the NHS about £10 billion a year and 13.6 million people are at risk of developing the condition.
When carrying out his National Food Strategy he called on the Government to adopt 14 recommendations to improve the health of the nation. These recommendations included a sugar and salt reformulation tax, extending eligibility for free school meals and launching a new ‘eat and learn’ initiative for schools.
Plans to ban buy one get one free (BOGOF) were delayed until October 2023 due to the cost of living crisis and the ban on pre-9pm junk food advertising was also delayed.
Dimbleby told the Sunday Times: "There is concern that we need to be celebrating the great British diets of fish and chips and curry and beer and that junk food is somehow patriotic. This Government is going backwards. After Boris Johnson's hospitalisation they were going to restrict advertising of junk food to children. They're not going to do that. They're just not tackling it.
“At the moment it’s forecast that by 2035 it will cost as much to treat type 2 diabetes alone — one diet-related condition — as it will to treat all cancers. Whichever Government is in power, whatever colour, a large part of their effort is going to be trying to shore up the NHS from the impact of diet-related ill health."