Prime minister Boris Johnson is set to rule out sugar and salt tax within weeks, stated recent reports as Britons continue to struggle with soaring grocery prices.
Johnson had already signaled his opposition last summer, saying he was “not attracted” to taxes, but said that he would read Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy, which had the levies as its top recommendation.
But a Whitehall source confirmed that “the PM was clear on taxes last summer and that won’t change” when the Government White Paper on food strategy is published, potentially next month.
Multiple reports cited an industry source saying that food sector would be pleased with the decision and suggested that it would be a struggle to get backbenchers to agree on any new levies even if Johnson changed his mind.
Dimbleby, the co-founder of Leon restaurants, was asked by the government to devise a strategy for the entire food chain, including production, marketing, processing, sale and purchase of food.
Its top recommendation to the government last summer was a “sugar and salt reformulation tax” with some of the revenue used to help get fresh fruit and vegetables to low-income families.
Launching the report last July, Dimbleby said he did not think this would increase prices, but would instead encourage food producers to reformulate their products by taking sugar and salt out.
Johnson was immediately cold on the idea, stressing he was “not… attracted to the idea of extra taxes on hardworking people”.
Campaigners are reportedly holding out hope that Johnson will at least accept Dimbleby’s recommendations for mandatory reporting for food companies to set out how they are encouraging healthier eating.
Barbara Crowther, children’s food campaign co-ordinator at the charity Sustain, said campaigners would continue to push for taxes in order to “break the junk food cycle”, saying the 2018 sugary drinks tax was the “single most impactful policy in reducing the amount of sugar in soft drinks” and this had a greater impact in lower-income households where there is a greater risk of obesity.
