MILKSHAKES and lattes will be clobbered with a sugar tax at tomorrow’s Budget, the Health Secretary confirmed today.
Milk-based drinks are currently exempt from the sweet tax introduced by the Tories in 2018.
At present, it only hits non-dairy drinks with 5g of sugar per 100ml.
But that threshold will now be lowered to 4.5g per 100ml.
Wes Streeting said bringing milk into the fold will help tackle obesity, alongside the Chancellor’s desperate bid to fill a £20bn black hole in the public purse.
The Health Secretary said: “An unhealthy start to life holds kids back from day one, especially those from poor backgrounds like mine.
“We’re on a mission to raise the healthiest generation of children ever, and that means taking on the biggest drivers of poor health.
“The levy has already shown that when industry cuts sugar levels, children’s health improves. So, we’re going further.
“A healthier nation will mean less pressure on our NHS, a healthier economy, and a happier society.
“It’s a simple change that is part of this government’s mission to give every child a healthy start to life.”
Between 2015 and 2024, the sugar tax has cut sugar levels in affected products by almost half, according to the Department for Health.
Ministers insist the new plans will reduce daily calorie intake by around 4 million in children and 13 million in adults across England.
This could prevent almost 14,000 cases of adult obesity and nearly 1,000 cases of childhood obesity, the Department for Health says.
It is being pitched to deliver almost £1 billion in health and economic benefits, as well as saving the NHS £36 million.
Slamming the tax, Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the IEA, said: “The sugar tax has been such a dramatic failure that it should be repealed, not expanded.
“It has been costing consumers £300m a year while childhood obesity rates have continued to rise.”
It comes as Ms Reeves spends one last day sharpening her axe for a Budget that promises to give with one hand and take away heavily with the other.
Facing grim economic forecasts and a £20bn deficit, the Chancellor is poised to unleash a wave of money-raising tactics including freezing income tax rates, unfreezing fuel duty and imposing a levy on properties worth £2 million.
