A cross-party committee of UK Members of Parliament has urged the government to ban fast food outlets from opening near schools and to prohibit junk food advertising on billboards and public transport, as part of a sweeping push to address the country's obesity epidemic. The Commons Health Committee (the parliamentary body overseeing public health policy) warned that over 400 initiatives since 1992 have failed to reverse rising obesity rates, with two-thirds of English adults and more than a quarter of teenagers now overweight or obese — a crisis costing the UK an estimated £74 billion annually. MPs highlighted a critical legal loophole that has allowed chains such as KFC to successfully challenge local councils' efforts to block new outlets near schools, and called on ministers to close that gap and resist pressure from the food industry.