Matt Hancock’s rift with Boris Johnson widens as the Health Secretary backs extending the sugar tax
MATT Hancock’s rift with Boris Johnson widened as the Health Secretary backed extending the sugar tax.
The PM has threatened to axe the levy on fizzy drinks because it clobbers poor Brits the most.
But in an astonishing challenge to his boss, Mr Hancock said the sugar tax “has been a total triumph”.
He suggested the “sin tax” will be rolled out to other treats such as milkshakes in the future as “it’s working”.
He told a HuffPost fringe at the Tory Party conference: “These sugary drinks are not good for you and people just do not understand the negative impact they can have.”
He said the tax has slashed the amount of sugar in many soft drinks.
Speaking in Manchester, he added: “We’ve got to tax something, so taxing something that is actively bad for you and drives up my costs in the NHS — let's tax those things rather than good things, like the amount of work that people do like in income tax.”
The Sun Says
“MY gut feeling is the sugar tax is working,” says Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
With respect to his gut, how does he measure that success?
Health zealots claim the tax is effective because the sugar in fizzy drinks has fallen 29 per cent. So what?
Is there any evidence our kids are less obese as a result? Not yet.
And on that basis, it’s failing.
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The Cabinet is at war over so-called sin taxes.
Many senior ministers have urged Mr Johnson to tear up the nanny-state rules introduced by Theresa May.
Boris has rubbished sin taxes. Speaking in the summer, he said: "If we want people to lose weight and live healthier life-styles, we should encourage people to walk, cycle and generally do more exercise.”
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