Tell Your MP About The Rise Of Big Food

Activists Brooke and Imogen are strolling past Burger King in Manchester. Brooke is wearing a mauve sweater and big bag and Imogen is wearing a black sweater and black tights holding a tote bag.

Can you tell your MP about our new research? The Government needs to take action and the best way to put pressure on them is through MPs raising this issue in parliament.

We have drafted a short email below. All you have to do is fill in your details and hit send.

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Dear {mp_full_name}, I am a constituent of yours and I am writing to you about the increase of fast food outlets in our local area, and the impact this has on the health of children growing up here.The youth-led movement, Bite Back has just released a new piece of research in collaboration with the University of Cambridge showing that five of the biggest fast food chains — Domino's, Subway, McDonalds, KFC and Burger King — have increased their number of outlets by nearly 50% across Great Britain in the last decade.The research also shows that today, there’s 3,411 schools that have a big food chain within 400m of their gates — that’s about a 5 minute walk. That is nearly 1,000 more schools compared to 2014. An estimated 76% of all Domino’s are within 400m of a school, 58% of Subways and 56% of KFCs.One of the young people at Bite Back had this to say: “These places have free WiFi. So especially when I was in Year 10 and 11 and didn’t have a data plan, that’s where I would go. I knew it wouldn’t be too loud so I could sit there and revise. It was a safe space for me. The shop almost becomes like a friend to you. But then the food on offer is unhealthy – 100%, I feel exploited.”And another said this: “My school is in the centre of town and McDonald’s is right in the back garden, 30 seconds from my school. Younger students go there after school because it's so convenient and cheap.”With nearly one in three children at risk of food-related ill health in the future, I believe there is a lot more work to be done to protect child health and I hope you agree with me. As my elected representative I would greatly appreciate it if you raise this issue in Parliament on my behalf. Below are the changes Bite Back are calling for, which I fully support:1. The Government should update national planning guidance to make health an explicit priority and empower and encourage Local Authorities to control the food environments in their communities.2. The Government should extend HFSS marketing restrictions to outdoor advertising and explore ways to limit other forms of unhealthy marketing in the out of home sector including brand advertising, in-app marketing and sports sponsorship.3. The Government should mandate businesses to report publicly and consistently on the healthiness of their sales of food and drinks.Thanks,

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