Henry Dimbleby’s long-awaited National Food Strategy took three years to write, yet the Prime Minister appeared to dismiss its key recommendation of taxing sugar and salt within mere hours of it landing.
Boris Johnson likes to talk about ‘levelling up’ — and nowhere is this more needed than when it comes to food. The impact of diet today on health inequalities, the environment and national efficiency cannot be overstated. What a shame, then, that the Prime Minister ignored the independent review during his ‘levelling up’ speech in Coventry last week.
Besides the sugar and salt tax, the report contained a raft of other sensible policies that are unlikely to be given proper consideration.
To tax salt and sugar might sound illiberal, but it is an incentive for processors and supermarkets to change the hidden ingredients in recipes
Take Dimbleby’s proposal for people to cut back 30 per cent on meat — which reflects official advice already.
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