A subsidiary of Primark’s parent company Associated British Foods, British Sugar, is the latest group to pledge its name to a campaign against plans for a sugar levy.
Launched today the campaign is calling for the government to scrap the proposed sugar levy, claiming it will do little to tackle the obesity crisis and cause job losses in the sector.
The campaign, called Face the Facts Can the Tax focuses on statistics from a report published last week by Oxford Economics which claims the levy will cause 4000 redundancies across the retail and hospitality sector. It is set to come into force in 2018.
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Other members include the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, the British Soft Drinks Association, Federation of Wholesale Distributors.
“Tax is often used by governments to reduce consumption, but in this case there is no credible evidence that a sugar tax will prompt a change in consumer behavior,” British Sugar managing director Paul Kenward told the Telegraph.
Paul Baxter, the head of National Federation of Retail Newsagents stated: “Our members are small business owners that are struggling to make ends meet in a very difficult economy.
“Piling on more ill thought-out policies that will only make things more difficult for retailers while doing nothing to address the serious problem of obesity does not make sense.”
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