Greens call for Labour to scrap ‘dehumanising’ weight-loss plans
Scottish Greens criticise plans from Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting
Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s plans to give unemployed people weight-loss jabs to improve the economy is “horrific and dehumanising” says Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman.
The Labour MP made the statement in an opinion piece for The Telegraph where he said “widening waistbands” were “holding back our economy”. This came alongside news that the UK government would invest nearly £300 million in the company which produces the weight-loss drug Tirzepatide.
Maggie Chapman MSP said:
“Treating a health issue as an economic burden that can be ‘fixed’ by medication is outrageous.
“People are not just cogs to fit into the capitalist machine. Instead of short-term fixes, this Labour government needs to focus on tackling long-term systemic issues that lead to obesity and ill health in this country.“Suggesting that the only reason someone is unemployed is due to their weight sets a disturbing precedent for further division and shame. It deflects from the wider social inequalities that truly affect unemployment rates that the Labour government should spend more time pondering.“These horrific and dehumanising plans should be scrapped before they start. It is totally unacceptable for Mr Streeting to suggest this whilst ignoring the vast number of systematic faults and moral failings that need to be tackled in the UK.”