UK government asks McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write health policy

:\ clever.

This happens in the US already and will probably happen more often in the UK in the future.

There, the special interests groups etc actually write the whole legislation and the results are as consumer friendly as you would expect.

The Conservative argument is always that people can do for themselves with minimal oversight, and that government should seek but a slim portfolio in the public interest, as opposed to enacting an endless stream of well-meaning legislation and managing provisions en masse, and this philosophy has its pros and cons. There is an argument for relaxing legislation in consultation with the industry and allowing the public to make informed decisions for themselves. I don't especially know that the legislation should be relaxed, it depends what these guys propose in consultations, but maybe it is about having them in the room to establish eventual commitments by hook or by crook, because I guess it isn't about handing over health policy.