Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a tax on ultra-processed food.

The ‘Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy’ consultation, published last month, seeks ways to encourage producers to remove added sugar from soft drinks. Specifically, it sets out proposals to reduce the minimum sugar threshold at which the levy applies from 5g to 4g sugar per 100ml, and to remove the current exemptions for milk-based and milk substitute drinks with added sugar. These changes would be estimated to reduce calorie consumption by 15 million kcal per day in children and 46 million kcal per day in adults, achieving health and economic benefits of around £4.2 billion over 25 years.