HOW THE SUGAR TAX IS WORKING

INTRODUCED a year ago, the sugar tax was designed to curb the growing problem of obesity, as well as tooth decay in children, by putting a levy on sugary soft drinks.

Fizzy drinks with more than 8g of sugar per 100ml are taxed 24p per litre, those with between 5g and 8g are taxed 18p per litre.

Many companies reduced the sugar content of their drinks by half or more to avoid having to hike prices and risk losing customers. Some manufacturers simply cut the size of their bottles while Coca-Cola and Pepsi decided not to reformulate their most popular drinks and took the tax hit — the price of a can rose from about 70p to 78p.

A year on, and there has been an 11 per cent reduction in sugar per 100ml of fizzy drinks consumed, the campaign group Action on Sugar says.

People are also buying more drinks that have sugar levels below the cut-off of 5g of sugar per 100ml, including diet versions — but which, of course, contain unadvertised quantities of artificial sweeteners.