Boris Johnson has rejected recommendations to introduce new taxes on sugar and salt to help tackle junk food-related issues, saying he is “not attracted” to the idea of a levy.
The prime minister’s comments came shortly after the publication of the National Food Strategy, which urged the government to take action to reform diets and encourage people to eat less sugar, salt and meat.
Authored by food entrepreneur Henry Dimbleby, the review warned that what the country eats, and how it is produced, is doing “terrible damage” to the environment and health, contributing to 64,000 deaths a year in England.
Among its proposals, the report called for a Sugar and Salt Reformulation Tax, including a levy of £3 per kilo of sugar and £6 per kilo of salt sold wholesale for use in processed food, restaurants and catering businesses.
After a speech on “levelling up” the country on Thursday, Mr Johnson said the government would study the proposals but forward by Mr Dimbleby – a co-founded of the Leon restaurant chain – in the independent report.
However, the prime minister added: We believe in tackling obesity, trying to help people lose weight, with promoting exercise and tackling junk food advertising and so on.
“I’m not, I must say, attracted to the idea of extra taxes on our working people, let me just signal that, but I will study his report with interest.”
In response to Mr Johnson’s remarks, Mr Dimbleby said it was “great” the prime minister had committed to reading the report, adding: “This is a huge problem, requiring bold solutions. Of course government can’t make up its mind on these things on the spot, no matter how much people try to bump them into that.”
Earlier the cabinet minister Robert Jenrick also played down the possibility of the government introducing new taxes on sugar and salt, saying ministers would be cautious about imposing “burdens” on the public.
“I think you have to be very careful about going down that road, because I don’t want to make life more difficult for people on low incomes,” he told LBC.
The report adds that the new levy would raise between £2.9bn and 3.4bn a year, the report says, some of which could be spent expanding free school meals to another 1.1 million children who need them.
Speaking earlier on Thursday, Mr Dimbleby suggested plans for salt and sugar levies are “doable”, but admitted he could not guarantee ministers will implement them.
“The government clearly needs to make a change and I think the recommendations I’ve made are doable, powerful and in the short term will create change,” he told BBC’s Breakfast.
“I will be out there making the case for them as strongly as I can but in the end it’s the government’s decision.
“They are elected, I am not elected, and it’s their decisions on what policies they make, but I will certainly be making the case as strongly as I can.”
