THE man hoping to retain his position as MP for Barrow and Furness has pledged to put forward a corner shop bill if re-elected in a bid to make fresh fruit and veg more affordable.

Labour's John Woodcock says the move would help poorer families to eat more healthily.

It comes as his party calls for a ban on adverts for junk food and sweets during hit TV shows, including The X Factor, Hollyoaks and Britain's Got Talent.

As part of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's plans to tackle childhood obesity, a £250m-a-year fund aimed at making UK youngsters the healthiest in the world would also see investment in school nurses.

Labour said the "scandal" of poor health in children was a "growing and urgent challenge" which needed radical action.

Mr Woodcock said: "Restricting prime time advertising on unhealthy food is an important contribution to the debate on how we help families lead healthier lives.

"It's not just about banning things though, the government needs to help poorer families by making healthier eating more affordable.

"Eating healthily is still less convenient and more expensive for many busy families on the go.

"If elected, I will introduce a bill to parliament to persuade the government to give subsidies to local corner shops who stock affordable fruit and vegetables.

"There is no magic bullet to the national childhood obesity crisis but giving mums and dads more low-cost healthy options could make a difference."

Adverts for products high in fat, salt or sugar are already banned on children's television, but Labour's plans would extend the prohibition to cover all programmes before the 9pm watershed.

Campaigners have argued that the existing ban does not cover many TV programmes which are popular with youngsters but are not specifically aimed at children.

Labour highlighted figures suggesting the move would reduce children's viewing of junk food adverts by 82 per cent.

The move is part of a strategy to halve the number of overweight children within 10 years in an effort to curb the £6bn annual cost to the NHS of obesity.

But Tory public health minister Nicola Blackwood said Mr Corbyn's "nonsensical" economic ideas would leave the country short of funds to pay for services.

She added: "Reducing childhood obesity is vital. That's why the public health watchdog says that the childhood obesity plan we've put in place is the most ambitious in the world, and why we have one of the strictest TV advertising regimes of any country.

"But the truth is that families deserve more than unfunded promises from Jeremy Corbyn. We spent £3.4bn on public health programmes last year - that can only be funded by a strong economy which Corbyn would risk with his nonsensical economic ideas."

Also fighting for the Barrow and Furness seat is Simon Fell for the Conservative Party and Loraine Birchall for the Lib Dems.