Full list of drinks that could go up in price with expansion of sugar tax
The tax on sugary drinks could be about to get a lot broader, with milkshakes and coffees brought into line for the first time.
Sugar content in soft drinks collapsed by 46% in the past five years as a result of the levy introduced by Chancellor George Osborne in 2016, according to the Food and Drink Federation.
But in her autumn budget last year, Osborne's successor Rachel Reeves said she was considering widening it out.
Currently, the tax is added to soft drinks with sugar content of 5% or more – leading some brands to change their recipe to lower their level to just under that threshold.
Some, such as Irn Bru, also gave customers the option of buying a premium version with the original recipe at a higher price.
The government is consulting on proposals to drop the threshold to 4%, meaning many drinks that changed their recipe would be sucked back in.
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Other plans include applying the tax to milk-based drinks like lattes and milkshakes, as well as non-dairy alternatives made out of oats and rice. Frijj chocolate milkshake : 11.4g of sugar per 100ml
: 11.4g of sugar per 100ml Cadbury chocolate milkshake : 10.3g of sugar per 100ml
: 10.3g of sugar per 100ml Yazoo chocolate milkshake : 8.6g of sugar per 100ml
: 8.6g of sugar per 100ml Starbucks Caffe Latte iced coffee : 8.3g of sugar per 100ml
: 8.3g of sugar per 100ml Arctic Coffee Cafe Latte : 7.9g of sugar per 100ml
: 7.9g of sugar per 100ml Shaken Udder Vanillalicious : 8.4g of sugar per 100ml
: 8.4g of sugar per 100ml Jimmy's Iced Coffee original : 4.9g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.9g of sugar per 100ml Irn Bru : 4.5g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.5g of sugar per 100ml Pepsi : 4.5g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.5g of sugar per 100ml Old Jamaica Ginger Beer : 4.9g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.9g of sugar per 100ml San Pellegrino Lemon : 4.5g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.5g of sugar per 100ml Fanta Lemon : 4.5g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.5g of sugar per 100ml Ribena : 4.3g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.3g of sugar per 100ml Tango Orange : 4.3g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.3g of sugar per 100ml Dr Pepper : 4.3g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.3g of sugar per 100ml Rubicon Sparkling Mango : 4.5g of sugar per 100ml
: 4.5g of sugar per 100ml Lucozade Orange: 4.5g of sugar per 100ml
The milk-based drinks would get a 'lactose allowance' under the plans, taking into account the sugars that occur naturally from the milk.
Christopher Snowdon of right-wing think tank the Institute for Economic Affairs called for the sugar tax to be 'repealed, not expanded'.
He said: 'It has been costing consumers £300 million a year while childhood obesity rates have continued to rise. More Trending
'To claim it has been a success on the basis of a hypothetical reduction of one calorie a day is absurd.'
According to the NHS, obesity in children aged between 11 and 15 has increased over the past ten years.
Government statistics released last September showed the tax has raised a total of £1.9 billion since it first came into effect in 2018.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told BBC Breakfast this morning: 'We are making sure we are taking practical, sensible measures to improve the health of our children.'
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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They were used in post-war new towns like Milton Keynes, and by Lord Heseltine to successfully rejuvenate dilapidated parts of London, Liverpool and Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s. Writing for the Adam Smith Institute think tank, Labour MP Chris Curtis has urged the Government to 'cut through red tape, streamline planning and empower development corporations'. 'We have seen what can be achieved when bold action is taken – Milton Keynes and the London Docklands are a testament to that,' he said. 'Now we must apply that same determination again, ensuring that Britain embraces a spirit of ambition and gets building.' The new towns plan is part of Labour's manifesto pledge to ramp up housebuilding and deliver 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament. The target, which the Government is falling shy of, is deemed unachievable by critics. Yet Piper backs the proposal. 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There have also been issues with local residents being unable to send their children to the town's new primary school as places were originally filled by those living further afield. Piper says: 'You need to build in your stewardship strategy right from the very beginning. We inherited a lot of things that were already in place, so we've had to do a lot retrospectively, which is 10 times harder. 'I also think in the very early days of the corporation the emphasis was almost exclusively on housing numbers. You can build houses but you're not actually building homes. You're certainly not building communities. We've therefore put a great emphasis on doing that.' But perhaps the biggest lesson from Ebbsfleet's fragmented creation and spider-gate for the Government's future garden cities is forming harmonious relationships between its own departments. After all, the Ministry of Housing (the department sponsoring Ebbsfleet's development corporation) and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (the department sponsoring Natural England) work just metres away from each other in the same building in London's Marsham Street. 'Creating a place is dependent on a lot of other agencies and public bodies,' says Piper. 'There needs to be strong alignment at a national government level between different departments.'
