Coalition calls for action on food from next Mayor of London

The coalition, coordinated by Sustain’s London Food Link team, along with Food Foundation, Feedback, School Food Matters and The Orchard Project, have included key policies such as ensuring all Londoners live in a healthy food neighbourhood and can grow food in community gardens and orchards. It also encourages commitment to a Right to Food and action on our Climate and Nature emergency through supporting less but better meat and dairy and farmer focused supply chains.

Over the last mayoral term significant steps have been made to improve the capital’s food system and create new opportunities for progressive change in the food and farming sector. This has included restricting unhealthy food adverts on public transport, declaring a climate and nature emergency and publishing the first ever measure of food insecurity in London, showing 1.5 million adults and 400,000 children in London were regularly struggling to afford or access food.

However, over the last year we know that food has become an even more important and overarching issue. Covid-19 has exposed pre-existing structural and health inequalities and a need for resilience in London’s food system.

The coalition want to ensure that this progress is maintained and believe there is still a long way to go in establishing a healthier, fairer and greener food system in London. In the next four years we want to see the mayor make positive steps to address the climate and nature emergency, ensure all Londoners can live in a healthy good neighbourhood and access good food and create a thriving food economy creating good food jobs and skills.

This briefing sets out our top asks for the next elected Mayor of London. We look forward to hearing back from candidates and seeing their manifestos released.

See the briefing here and find out more about Sustain’s work in this area