A councillor has criticised doctors’ calls for a “fat tax”.

Coun Simon Cooke (pictured), deputy leader of the Conservative group on Bradford Council, was responding to calls made by doctors last week, to increase the price on fatty foods and drinks in an effort to reduce obesity.

On his “View from Cullingworth” blog, he said: “I mind greatly about doctors wanting new taxes – nannying fussbucketry is not just wrong it’s immoral.”

He also claims doctors are wrong to call the country’s obesity problem an “epidemic”, adding: “Obesity isn’t infectious. The biggest lie today is the idea that the solution lies in ever more draconian controls, more taxes and money poured into aggressive ‘public health’ campaigns.”