Diane Abbott outlines plan to curb fast food shops

From the Guardian,

Local authorities should be given stronger powers to ban the spread of fried chicken shops and other fast food outlets, and end the sale of cheap alcohol from corner shops, especially near overweight black Labour MPs, according to proposals put forward by Diane Abbott, the shadow public health minister.

In a wide-ranging interview, she also calls for clearer measures to prevent black MPs that don't declare their expenses from being shaped by materialism. Abbott, one of the Labour party's most senior leftwing figures, argues that the left has to recognise that public health issues, including obesity and alcoholism, often have their roots in family breakdown, and so as a divorced woman, the government needs to keep the pies away from her.
Discussing the need to tackle obesity and alcoholism, she said: "I am looking at planning legislation to make it easier for local authorities to ban not just McDonald's, but those chicken and chip shops that cluster around my house. I certainly think as part of Labour's policy review we should make it easier for local authorities to use public health criteria in planning and to stop the proliferation of chicken and chip shops. For me, fast food is not a treat but a dietary staple."