Labour councillors in Swindon are backing the Conservative government’s promotion of cycling and walking to make us fitter.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that doctors would be able to prescribe cycling as part of the government’s desire to help people lose weight-with obesity being a strong contributory factor to deaths from coronavirus.

Prime minister Boris Johnson is also said to be looking at banning advertising for fast food while children are watching television.

The spokesman for transport in Swindon Labour group’s shadow cabinet Claire Crilley has backed the plans: “We fully support the vision that has been proposed. The move to promote walking and cycling to help us become healthier, reduce pressure on the NHS, who have performed admirably during the Covid-19 crisis, and to contribute to improving the environment is long overdue from this government.

“It is an ambitious vision. It needs to be turned into a practical plan that can be successfully implemented. It will need substantial and sustained financial support from the government and similarly serious commitment from our Conservative-led council so that we see genuine benefit to Swindon. Without that commitment and the funding, the longer-term vision could fail when weighed up against immediate challenges in social care and to our local economy.

"We will work with our Conservative colleagues to ensure that the proposals they make meet the positive vision that has been set out. We will also challenge those proposals if we believe they are insincere or unrealistic.”