Soft Drinks Industry Angered by UK Sugar Tax, Government Promises it Will Make a Difference to Childhood Obesity

17 Aug 2016 --- The UK Government promised to introduce a small tax on unhealthy sugary drinks, raising £520 million ($677 million) in its first year alone to pay for sports activities and healthy breakfast clubs, benefiting the millions of children who attend UK schools.

Parts of the food and sugary drinks industry simply don’t want to pay towards improving children’s health, and preventing the obesity, diabetes and distressing tooth decay caused by excessive sugar consumption.

Responding to the last-ditch lobbying attempts by the food and soft drinks industry to forestall the Government from going ahead with its planned soft drinks industry levy, Malcolm Clark, Co-ordinator of the Children's Food Campaign, said: “The Children’s Food Campaign urges the Chancellor of the Exchequer to confirm implementation of a sugary drinks tax. This is a simple first step towards turning the tide on children’s junk-food diets. Research predicts that a UK sugary drinks tax would result in £300 million direct savings to the NHS, and significant increased quality of life, and  thus economic productivity, for hundreds of thousands of people. Contrary to industry protestations, our own research shows there would be no significant reduction in total employment in soft drinks manufacturing, with new jobs being created in making other products – a finding supported by peer-reviewed academic evidence.”

“It looks as if parts of the food and soft drink industry are trying to deal a body-blow to Team GB’s future Olympic success. They are pedaling furiously to block millions being invested in school sports, and to thwart efforts to stimulate recipe changes to make their hugely sugary products more healthy. It takes medal-winning gymnastic skills for these companies and trade bodies to pretend they are taking the high ground whilst putting short-term profit ahead of children's health and fitness. This Government should not row back from its commitment to introduce a sugary drinks levy and a robust strategy to tackle childhood obesity.”