British ice cream is generally terrible because our laws are too lax. Previously (from 1996 until 2015), "ice cream" required a minimum of 5% milk fat and 2.5% milk protein. This is still low compared the the USA's requirement of 10% milk fat and 6% milk solids-not-fat (proteins and carbohydrates combined), but it at least met the common-sense definition that an ice cream must contain cream.

In 2015, this requirement was abolished, and now you can sell anything sweet and frozen as "ice cream" even if it contains no dairy at all.