McDonald's should ban plastic toys in children's Happy Meals, the Environment Minister has said, as she called for companies to make "symbolic changes" to show they are cutting down on single-use plastics.

The comments were made by Thérèse Coffey during a panel discussion on plastic waste at the Conservative Party Conference, ahead of a major Government announcement on its waste reduction ad recycling strategy.

She said: “I desperately want McDonald to give up their happy meal toys and change them to be all about what can you do on you iPad or smart phone, rather than a piece of plastic that lasts for about five minutes and then takes five centuries to degrade.

“So there are certain things we can get companies to do that I think would be a symbolic change, even if the amount of plastic involved is not actually that much.”

McDonald's is one of a number of large consumer facing companies which have already promised to replace plastic straws with paper straws in all its UK branches. Starbucks has also pledged to ban plastic straws by 2020.