PM against introducing a sugar and salt tax
Boris Johnson has said he is not attracted to proposals for taxes on food intended to cut sugar and salt which could hit "hardworking people".
The independent National Food Strategy called for a sugar and salt reformulation tax as a key part of efforts to transform the nation's diet to include less sugar, salt and meat to protect health and the environment.
The report said some money raised by the tax should be spent on addressing the inequalities around food, by expanding free school meals, funding holiday activity and food clubs, and providing healthy food to lowincome families.
It said what we eat, and how it is produced, is doing "terrible damage", contributing to 64,000 deaths a year in England, costing the economy £74 billion, and driving wildlife loss and climate change - which in turn put food security at risk.
Food entrepreneur Henry Dimbleby, who led the National Food Strategy review, said action is needed to break the "junk food cycle" between consumers and food companies.
He told BBC Breakfast that taxes on sugar recommended by his report are unlikely to have an impact on ordinary consumers, with the aim being to drive down the amount of sugar in sweet foods, rather than simply charge more for them.
However, the Prime Minister said: "I will study the report. I think it is an independent report. I think there are doubtless some good ideas in it.
"I am not, I must say, attracted to the idea of extra taxes on hard working people."