Sugar tax needs expanding

It suggests the real benefits will be lost unless government shows its willingness to expand the levy and ring-fence proceeds.

The study by academics at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Exeter, Warwick and Bath Universities published in PLoS Medicine, finds clear evidence of manufacturers lowering sugar levels in drinks in response to the introduction of the levy.

The analysis shows when former Chancellor George Osborne announced plans to introduce the tax, around 52% of eligible soft drinks contained 5g or more sugar per 100ml and were liable for the tax. The levy came into force in April 2018, and by February 2019, only 15% of soft drinks were still liable.

A recent study found a 29% reduction in the total amount of sugar sold in soft drinks in the UK from 2015-2018, as a direct result of industry reformulating products to avoid exposure to the tax.

While the Soft Drinks Industry Levy is now forecast to raise £340 million in 2020-21, dentists have expressed concerns that the last Spending Round announcement failed to make any commitment to ring-fence revenue for spending on preventive programmes in children.