Ministers reject salt and sugar tax

NEW taxes on salt and sugar are to be ruled out by ministers, in a move welcomed by MPS.

A food strategy published this week will also reject calls to discourage consumers from eating meat or dairy products.

Instead, there will be a focus on encouraging shoppers to support British farmers by buying homegrown produce, and a push to get children into the healthy eating habit by improving the quality of school meals.

It comes after a Governmentcommissioned review conducted by entrepreneur Henry Dimbleby, cofounder of the Leon restaurant chain, called for a new £3/kg tax on sugar and a £6/kg tax on salt used in processed food and restaurants.

The review urged the Government to “nudge” consumers into eating less meat, on the grounds that methane emissions from cows and sheep contribute to global warming.

Environment Secretary George Eustice is to publish the Government’s response this week but details were leaked over the weekend. MP Andrew Bridgen said: “Given that we are in a cost of living crisis and taxation has never been higher, as a Conservative I’m certainly not in favour of any new taxes at the moment.”

Sir Bill Wiggin, an MP representing a rural Herefordshire constituency, said: “The Government is right not to follow an anti-beef agenda. Pasturefed beef is a positive, healthy way of turning our natural grass into protein.

“British people are more than capable of making their own minds up about what they eat and I am delighted the Government has chosen this route.”

However, Rob Percival, head of food policy at the Soil Association, said: “It feels like there’s a really blinkered view where we just avoid the diet question and just keep producing as much as we can of the foods that we’re currently eating.”

Other measures in the strategy include proposals for a “school meal revolution”. A new national service for schools will help them procure high-quality and affordable products, and every school will be required to publish a food policy on their website.

There will be a focus on teaching children how to cook healthy meals.