Overweight people were told today there are "no excuses" for being obese as the Conservative party launches a new "responsibility" deal on public health.

The shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, used a speech to the thinktank Reform, entitled No Excuses, No Nannying, to set out proposals on how the government and business can work together to address problems caused by poor diet, alcohol abuse and lack of exercise.

"Tell people that biology and the environment cause obesity and they are offered the one thing we have to avoid: an excuse," he said.

"As it is, people who see more fat people around them may themselves be more likely to gain weight. Young people who think many of their friends binge-drink are likely to do so themselves. Girls who think their peers engage in early sex are more likely to do so themselves.

"Peer pressure and social norms are powerful influences on behaviour and they are classic excuses."

Vowing to "take away the excuses", Lansley unveiled proposals for the party's second "responsibility" deal with business.

He will ask a new working group to consider:

· supporting EU-wide proposals for mandatory front-of-pack food labelling

· asking the food industry to reduce portion sizes

· a clampdown on food advertising

· using role models and positive peer pressure to promote healthy living

· local campaigns to promote sport, exercise and healthy lifestyles.

He floated the idea of incentives for small businesses to improve the health of employees. "We will take action to ensure people have the opportunities, information and incentives towards healthy living," Lansley said.

The speech comes after the Tory leader, David Cameron, said last month that the poor, obese and lazy spent too much time blaming social problems for their own shortcomings.

Insisting a Conservative government would not be a "nannying" state, Lansley denied that the proposals are "about telling people what to do".

"Tackling the environment should not be a licence to lecture people, because they have no excuse not to exercise, or eat their fruit and vegetables. Nannying - at least among adults - is likely to be counterproductive. Providing information is empowering, lecturing people is not. So, no excuses, no nannying."

For teenagers, the party plans to deploy role models and social marketing techniques, not just to warn about the harm of "risky behaviour", but to offer "positive empowerment they can achieve by choosing healthy living".

"We must not constantly talk about tackling obesity and warning people about the negative consequences of obesity. Instead we must be positive - positive about the fun and benefits to be had from healthy living, trying to get rid of people's excuses for being obese by tackling the issue in a positive way."

The responsibility deal on public health follows a similar initiative on producer waste announced earlier this year. The scheme is designed to encourage businesses to act in a socially responsible way and tackle issues that cannot be solved by regulation and legislation alone.

However, business leaders criticised the scheme, saying it would cause confusion. The CBI's director general, Richard Lambert, said at the time: "The proper role of government is to create certainty in the market and maintain a clear distinction between compulsory regulation and voluntary action. Where necessary, the government should regulate clearly and enforce the regulations strongly.

"There is a risk that responsibility deals would confuse this issue, by being almost a form of regulation by proxy, and would lack credibility."

Afterwards, the health secretary, Alan Johnson, criticised the proposals claiming they "lacked substance" and would "get us nowhere".

He said: "Andrew Lansley is proposing to do nothing that isn't being done already and saying nothing that hasn't been said before.

"Six months after the government published its obesity strategy, Healthy Weight Healthy Lives, we get this pale shadow.

"This response lacks substance; it attacks the eminent scientists who drew up the Foresight report, substituting the science with the Tories' reactionary instincts."

"Seeking to tackle obesity on this thin gruel will get us nowhere."

A growing problem

Weight problems are estimated to cost the NHS and the wider economy as much as £16bn a year, a figure that is expected to rise to £50bn by the middle of the century. Nearly a quarter of men and women in England are obese, according to the Department of Health. Up to 18% cent of two- to 15-year-olds are described as obese and a further 14% as overweight. A government report last year suggested that if current eating habits and exercise trends persist, nearly 60% of men and 50% of women will be obese by 2050. A further 35% of adults will fall into the overweight category. The severely obese are likely to die on average 11 years earlier than someone with a healthy weight.
Owen Bowcott