UK – The UK government is reviewing its anti-obesity strategy for England in light of the cost-of-living crisis, which may also extend to scrapping the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, commonly known as the sugar tax.
The sugar tax was introduced in the UK in 2018 and consists of a levy of 18p a liter for drinkers with five to eight grams of sugar per 100ml and 24p per liter for those with more than 8g of sugar per 100ml.
The tax generates around GBP300m (US$346m) a year in revenue for the United Kingdom’s government.
Many soft drink brand owners in the country have reformulated products to avoid paying the levy, which, in turn, forced a change in the industry and spurred a drastic change in the nation’s consumption, some claiming the tax has ruined the taste of several cherished soft-drink brands.
Meanwhile, the anti-obesity strategy was planned to deter people from eating so-called junk food through restrictions on advertising, special offers, and product placement – which has already been put back by a year – is on hold while the review takes place.
The New UK prime minister Lizz Truss is known to be a critic of so-called “nanny state” policies and has previously criticized the sugar tax, saying “taxes on treats hit those on the lowest incomes”.
Mhairi Brown, policy and public affairs manager at UK campaign group Action on Sugar and Action on Salt, claimed the tax had led to 48 million kilos of sugar being “removed per year from the nation’s diet”, citing the period 2015 to 2019.
“Measures like this must now be championed and protected by the Government to help prevent the unnecessary deaths and suffering of thousands of people, caused by unhealthy diets, whilst saving the NHS billions of pounds a year.”
Statistics gathered as part of the National Child Measurement Programme found between 2019 and 2021 the proportion of primary school-aged children becoming obese had significantly increased.
Christopher Snowdon, director of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, welcomed the news and said “rates of obesity among children and adults have increased,” arguing the tax’s “failure is no surprise.
Sugar taxes have never worked anywhere since they are remarkably ineffective at reducing sales of sugary drinks, let alone at reducing calorie intake and obesity, he added.
However, studies suggest the sugar tax has been effective in changing consumers’ buying habits, its effect is felt most greatly by the companies that manufacture the drinks.
A 2021 study, published in the BMJ, found there had been an overall reduction in sugar purchased in soft drinks a year after the levy came in, but no change in the overall volume of drinks sold.
The BMJ said it was evidencing the sugar tax was “working exactly as intended”, as “consumers are buying less sugar, while [the] industry’s bottom line remains largely unscathed”.
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