Pints ordered in pubs will be slapped with calorie counts, leaked ‘nanny-state’ plans reveal

NANNYING health chiefs are to slap calorie counts on pints ordered in pubs, leaked plans seen by Trending In The News reveal.

Matt Hancock’s Health department has horrified Cabinet colleagues with orders to force bigger pub chains to reveal the amount of calories in all beer, wine and spirit served in their bars.

Menus or even pump labels would have to carry the information.

The push would also see all alcohol sold in shops have to publish calorie information and a health warning by law.

All pre-packaged booze labels would have warnings about drinking from Professor Chris Whitty, as well as the risks of drink-driving and the amount of calories.

The Government’s own figures say that there will be a £92 million hit to the already Covid-ravaged booze industry – but “the benefits to consumers has not been quantified”.

Public Health Minister Jo Churchill has told colleagues she wishes to launch a 12-week consultation on the plans.

They would force any business with 250 or more people to publish the calorie information about drinks – meaning the change in the law would hit most major pub chains.

Churchill points to the fact that 7-8% of drinkers’ calorie intake come from booze, with lower socio-economic households and those already overweight benefiting the most from the policy.

But last night critics slammed the plans as “madness” saying they would be a hammer blow to an already struggling part of the economy.

Free market think tank, the Adam Smith Institute, hit out: “Brits backing their locals are well aware that too many pints makes beer belly more likely.

“We don’t need government enforced calorie counts to tell us something we already know.”

Boss Matt Kilcoyne added: “Ministers thinking up this madness should stop and drop the policy.

”Let the publicans and the punters do what they want in the pubs without Mr Hancock wagging his finger each time a pint is pulled.”