Truss rules out a meat tax – with talk of carrot approach

FOREIGN Secretary Liz Truss slapped down her Cabinet colleague George Eustice yesterday, saying she would not support a ‘meat tax’.

Asked about Environment Secretary Mr Eustice’s support for the move, she said she preferred to use the ‘carrot’ rather than a ‘stick’ to inspire people to change.

It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Cop26 president Alok Sharma also rejected plans to tax foods with a high-carbon footprint such as meat and dairy.

Speaking at the conference yesterday, she told Sky: ‘I wouldn’t support a meat tax. I think it’s really important that we support our fantastic British farming industry and I think it’s important that rather than using the stick to encourage people to become more climate-friendly we use the carrot, if that’s not mixing metaphors with meat.

‘And we actually make a climate-friendly lifestyle more affordable for people.’

It comes after Mr Eustice said ministers were already working on a tax system for the food sector on foods that contribute most to global warming.

He told The Daily Telegraph that the UK will need to ‘move into the realms of things like carbon taxes’ after EU agricultural subsidies are phased out.