The sugar tax should be extended to cover sweets, not just soft drinks, according to public health campaigners. The charity Action on Sugar said it wanted ministers to get tough on childhood obesity by forcing confectionery manufacturers to reduce the sugar in their products.
Chocolates and sweet confectionery account for 9% of all the sugar eaten by children aged between four and 10 and for 11% by those aged between 11 and 18.
The levy, which is due to come into force in the UK affecting heavily sugared fizzy drinks from next year, should also be applied to sweet treats sold in coffee shops and restaurants because those often contained a lot of sugar and calories, the campaign group said.
Under the new rules, producers or importers of soft drinks will have to pay a sugar tax of 18p per litre on drinks containing five grams or more of sugar per 100 millilitres and 24p per litre more if their products contain eight grams or more per 100 millilitres. The Treasury expects the levy to raise £520m a year.
“Action on Sugar is urging the next government to implement a mandatory sugar levy on all confectionery products that contain high levels of sugar to ensure maximum impact to help tackle the obesity and type 2 diabetes crisis,” said Graham McGregor, Action on Sugar’s chairman, who is professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London.
“The levy should be structured by the Treasury as per the soft drinks industry levy, whereby it is aimed at manufacturers to encourage them to reduce sugar in their overall product ranges. The next government needs to bring in tough measures to ensure compliance and put public health before the profits of the food industry.”
Dentists in Britain backed the move as a way of tackling tooth decay. “When the sugar levy is already showing that progress is possible, it makes no sense to draw an arbitrary line and ignore the likes of sweets or energy drinks that are so aggressively marketed at children,” said Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association. “Ministers keep giving the impression that it’s ‘mission accomplished’ on sugar controls. Dentists are confronting an epidemic of tooth decay and government must show it is prepared to go further on advertising, reformulation targets and through the tax system.”
A sugar tax on sweets had to be mandatory because “voluntary sugar reduction vis reformulation alone will not combat obesity”, said McGregor.
Conservative sources said they would not be extending the sugar tax. “Reducing childhood obesity is vital, and we’re pleased that Public Health England says that our plan to address it is the most ambitious in the world,” a source said.
The Food and Drink Federation, which represents manufacturers, recently warned that the 20% cut in sugar content of most types of foodstuffs being sought by Public Health England by 2020 was highly unlikely to happen because it would not be “technically possible, or acceptable to UK consumers”.
Sugar tax must apply to sweets as well as drinks, say campaigners
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