Food habits, both good and bad, are formed in the earliest years. The babies of today are the parents of the future and it is our responsibility to ensure the next generation doesn’t suffer because of poor decisions that we make now.

We strongly believe we need to focus our attention on the nutrition of babies and the under fives – this requires a coordinated long-term strategy that focuses on the youngest children.

This is a long-term challenge which we must start addressing today. As a first step we are calling on the main political parties to commit to a coordinated ‘Food Manifesto for the Under Fives’ as part of their 2015 election manifesto.

This requires them to make a commitment to focusing on improving nutrition for children in their formative years of 0 - 5.

If our politicians can work together, and in consensus, rather than with disparate aims, there is an opportunity to save a generation of children from the twin evils of obesity and hunger. We believe the will exists amongst these people - and as politicians, professionals and parents we can work towards achieving a joint goal.

This is the start of our campaign to galvanise support and create a shared vision of how we might encourage our youngest children to have a better relationship with food from day one.

There is no ‘silver bullet solution’ and we cannot do it alone, but we like to believe that little ripples of ideas can form waves of opinion.