From Tom Brake MP…

Soft drinks are considered the largest single source of sugar consumption for school-age children and teenagers and just one serving of these drinks may contain more than half of their recommended maximum daily sugar intake.

That’s why Jamie Oliver came to Parliament to speak about his campaign to introduce a tax on sugary drinks.

This tax is one of eight recommendations from Public Health England to tackle the UK’s alarming obesity and diabetes rates; in 2013 around one in five English 10 to 11 year-olds were classed as obese.

The idea would simply be to impose a tax of about 7p per regular-sized can of soft drink (330ml).

Those in favour say that a ‘’Sugar Tax’’ could help reduce obesity levels in up to 200,000 people, save the NHS £567 million a year and raise £1 billion. The money raised could then be used for the prevention by the NHS and schools of childhood obesity and diet-related diseases. They say that in Mexico, a ‘‘soda tax’’ raised over $1billion USD in its first year alone and helped reduce the consumption of sugary drinks by an average of 6%.

Those against a ‘’Sugar Tax’’ argue that this tax would not disincentivise but only penalise and place another unfair burden on the poorest in our society. They also do not agree that the international evidence supports the introduction of such a tax and believe that there are more effective ways of tackling obesity including paying more attention to educating younger children to the dangers of sugar consumption.

So for this month’s E-Poll I want to know whether you support the ”Sugar Tax”.

If you agree with Jamie Oliver’s ‘’Sugar Tax’’ just reply this email using the word ‘’Tax’’.  If you disagree with the tax just reply using the word ‘’No’’. As always, all your comments will be read and I will let you know the result in a few weeks.

You can also find out more about Public Health England’s recommendations here: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2015/10October/Pages/Controversial-sugar-tax-report-published.aspx 

Regards

Tom Brake MP