Weight-loss jabs should not be used to achieve a “perfect” body, the Health Secretary has warned.

Wes Streeting has confirmed unemployed people will be given the medication in an attempt to get Britain back to work and decrease reliance on the NHS.

Mr Streeting has announced a £280 million investment from Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, in developing new medicines and ways to deliver treatment.

Speaking to Sky News’s Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, he said: “I think the drugs can make a really big impact in terms of getting weight under control.

“Some encouraging signs around prevention of cardiovascular disease, big killers, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, there is really big potential there.

“Where I think we’ve just got to be careful, though, is that we don’t see these drugs as an excuse not to do the right thing in terms of our diet, nutrition, exercise, or to use them as cosmetic drugs for the Instagram perfect body.”